APRIL IS PARKINSON'S AWARENESS MONTH

April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month

This last year of confinement has forced many, young and old, to a lifestyle of reduced activity, which in turn has led to physical and psychological challenges. For those over 100,000 Canadians living with Parkinson’s disease, these impacts can further aggravate the symptoms of this movement disorder characterized by slowness of movement, rigidity, tremor, postural instability and changes in speech/facial expressions.  A great deal of research indicates that exercise can be the difference between dependence and independence for those living with PD.  Yet nearly 40% of patients who have had PD for 10 years are not exercising. Lack of knowledge coupled with the belief that “exercise can’t help me” create the perfect storm for rapid decline.

For the 60% that have understood that movement is an essential part of treatment and are looking to exercise, the restrictive measures have made it difficult. In-centre programs have had to adapt to circumstances and step out of the box to meet the needs of those living with progressive diseases that feed off inactivity. Cummings Centre is one such centre. Well known for its Adapted Exercise Clinic, Cummings has taken the training philosophies and objectives used for over 20 years in their clinic and transitioned them to the ZOOM platform so that anyone 50+ living with PD can participate in live classes from their own home.

For the week of April 19^th, we encourage all to join some of these classes for FREE using the Trial links below:

LIVE ZOOM EVENTS APRIL 19 – 23 (FREE!)