Almost six years ago, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease (PD). I was on the young end of the spectrum when diagnosed (46), but certainly not the youngest ever diagnosed. A couple years later, I was introduced to the Rock Steady Boxing program which is specifically designed to utilize the training a boxer does to prepare for a fight in order to tame the symptoms of PD.
Long story short, I became a certified coach in 2015 and either take class or coach 4-5 days per week. We have approx. 50 boxers (we don't call them patients) in our program.
We have a couple platforms in our gym and I almost immediately fell in love with the speed bag. It was after a year or so of working on it, that I discovered bible style bagging through youtube videos of Alan Kahn. A while later, I bought his book and DVD and started to learn.
For me, my symptoms are exclusively on my right side ... and I am right handed. It presents some difficulties, but not debilitating by any means. I have a tremor on my right arm, hand, leg and foot. That really doesn't impair speed bag at all as the tremor is a resting tremor, it does not happen when I am engaging the hand.
What does cause challenges is that I have Bradykinesia, or slowness of movement as well. Basically, the communication from my brain to the muscles is disrupted by a dopamine deficiency (the cause of PD). My right side moves slower than my left and is less coordinated as a result.
I learn new skills on the bag with my left hand first because it is less frustrating and I am able to progress much faster. After gaining proficiency on the left, I am then able to translate that to my right hand (still hard for me to adjust to the fact that I am less capable on my right hand).
I was fortunate to meet Alan last fall at a Rock Steady coaches conference where he did a demo. He has been extremely helpful with my progress on the bag. I have been able to teach some of our boxers some bible style skills ... they love being able to do things that one would not think someone with a movement disorder should be able to do!
Sorry for the ramble, but I wanted to share my path to finding the speed bag and to let the community know that it is a big motivator to me and is very therapeutic for me and many others. I look forward to learning from this group and hopefully being able to share perspectives on using the speed bag as tool for those with PD.
Long story short, I became a certified coach in 2015 and either take class or coach 4-5 days per week. We have approx. 50 boxers (we don't call them patients) in our program.
We have a couple platforms in our gym and I almost immediately fell in love with the speed bag. It was after a year or so of working on it, that I discovered bible style bagging through youtube videos of Alan Kahn. A while later, I bought his book and DVD and started to learn.
For me, my symptoms are exclusively on my right side ... and I am right handed. It presents some difficulties, but not debilitating by any means. I have a tremor on my right arm, hand, leg and foot. That really doesn't impair speed bag at all as the tremor is a resting tremor, it does not happen when I am engaging the hand.
What does cause challenges is that I have Bradykinesia, or slowness of movement as well. Basically, the communication from my brain to the muscles is disrupted by a dopamine deficiency (the cause of PD). My right side moves slower than my left and is less coordinated as a result.
I learn new skills on the bag with my left hand first because it is less frustrating and I am able to progress much faster. After gaining proficiency on the left, I am then able to translate that to my right hand (still hard for me to adjust to the fact that I am less capable on my right hand).
I was fortunate to meet Alan last fall at a Rock Steady coaches conference where he did a demo. He has been extremely helpful with my progress on the bag. I have been able to teach some of our boxers some bible style skills ... they love being able to do things that one would not think someone with a movement disorder should be able to do!
Sorry for the ramble, but I wanted to share my path to finding the speed bag and to let the community know that it is a big motivator to me and is very therapeutic for me and many others. I look forward to learning from this group and hopefully being able to share perspectives on using the speed bag as tool for those with PD.
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