Photo: Shannon Mustard
By Shannon Mustard
Researchers have found that a community-based cycling exercise program improved the gait, posture, and muscle strength for patients with Parkinson’s disease, a neural disorder that results in freezing episodes (the inability to move involuntarily), rigidity, and tremors in the body.
In collaboration with Guelph’s YMCA, Profs. Lori Ann Vallis, Philip Millar and Jamie Burr and undergraduate graduate students in the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, ran a pilot program offered by the YMCA of Guelph for individuals living with Parkinson’s Disease.
It consisted of concurrent cycling classes for participants held in the same studio space: half of the study participants completed a short high-intensity interval class, and half completed an extended low-intensity class. The participants completed the same cycling class three times a week for 10 weeks— adding up to a total of 30 classes.
Biomechanical, physiological and clinical testing was performed before and after completion of the 10-week training protocol.
Through the two cycling classes offered for the program, they saw significant improvements among the participants in their stability and mobility. One clinical aspect researchers focused on was the ability of the participants to walk while turning their head, an important action that must be safely executed in the course of regular daily activities, such as crossing a street. Researchers also observed an improvement in participants’ aerobic capacity (the ability of the heart and lungs to get oxygen to one’s muscles), regardless of their cycling intensity; both the interval and continuous fitness training provided the patients with the opportunity to improve their overall fitness endurance.
“I think most participants will also tell you that they enjoyed the group class environment,” says Vallis. “Many of them encouraged each other to continue exercising even after the research study was complete, so I think there were also some positive social outcomes too.”
Vallis had previously taught a fourth-year undergraduate class in clinical biomechanics that provided students with the opportunity to job shadow various wellness programs in the community, which sparked interest among the students to contribute to this collaborative research project.
“This program provided undergrad and graduate students with the opportunity to contribute to their community and use the knowledge they have learned in lectures towards an assignment that would benefit others,” she says. “This study offered a great way to work with community partners, the staff and clients of the YMCA, and we’re grateful to the YMCA for offering studio space that allowed the project to continue. It was an excellent training opportunity for our Human Kinetics undergraduate and graduate students.”
Vallis says this program also has the potential to be offered to people living with other neural disorders besides Parkinson’s Disease.