Boxing to beat back: DeKalb area residents fight Parkinson’s disease with Rock Steady Boxing

DeKALB – A no-contact boxing class hosted at a Northwestern Medicine facility in DeKalb is giving those diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease an opportunity to fight back against the incurable ailment.

Rock Steady Boxing is a three-days-a-week class held at Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Health & Wellness Center that aims to improve the lives of those dealing with the repercussions of having Parkinson’s disease, a disorder that progressively affects the body’s nervous system.

Loren Foelske, 69, a DeKalb resident of 30 years, attends Rock Steady Boxing three times a week.

“I think it’s wonderful,” Foelske said. “For those of us who’ve been recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s, it’s a way for us to try and slow the progression of the disease, and do it in a manner in which we meet other people who are going through the same trials and tribulations, and just a good sense of togetherness in trying to fight the disease together.”

April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month.

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Michael Tiedt punches the heavy bag Friday, April 28, 2023, during Rock Steady Boxing for Parkinson's Disease class at Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Health & Wellness Center in DeKalb. The class helps people with Parkinson’s Disease maintain their strength, agility and balance. (Mark Busch - mbusch@shawmedia.com/Mark Busch - mbusch@shawmedia.co)

Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder that affects the control of voluntary movement.

Dr. Martha McGraw, a movement disorders neurologist and co-director of the Neurodegenerative Disease Center at Central DuPage Hospital, said the disorder is caused by the loss of dopamine producing neurons in the body.

“As your brain loses those dopamine-producing cells, it becomes harder to move,” McGraw said. “Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that brain cells use to pass messages from one cell to another out to the body. When you don’t have enough dopamine, it’s hard for those messages to get through. So patients will often say, ‘I can do everything I need to, it just takes twice as long. It takes twice as much effort, it’s a lot harder.’ ”

McGraw said even though most of the forms of therapy she prescribes to her Parkinson’s disease patients depend on medication to replace dopamine, there are currently no medications that completely stop the progression of the disease.

“Well, I think, hopefully, it’s slowing the progression of the disease, which is kind of hard to measure, but I think it’s helped me with my walking. I have a smoother gait than I did before.”

—  Loren Foelske, DeKalb resident

Exercise is among the only things shown to have a positive influence on those diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, McGraw said, so she encourages her patients to live an active and healthy lifestyle.

Sharon Smith, instructor of the Rock Steady Boxing class at the Kishwaukee Health & Wellness Center, said she designs each class differently so as to keep the program fresh for its 10 participants.

“We work on walking exercises for agility and balance; endurance; the boxing for speed, power [and] coordination; balance work,” Smith said. “They do weights, arm weights for strength. We do balance work, and we do some cognitive mind work.”

Smith said there are four levels to the class. The first two levels are oriented toward those who were recently diagnosed, whereas an individual in level four would necessitate one-on-one help.

“Rock Steady Boxing is great,” McGraw said. “Not only does it provide our patients with aerobic activity to increase blood flow to the brain, but it also works on coordination, sequenced movement, small movement and large movements together, and that can help our patients maintain the highest level of function.”

The cardinal symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, McGraw said, include body tremors, bodily stiffness and rigidity, as well as walking and balance changes, but the disorder affects more than just fine motor skills.

“And even though we talk about it being a movement disorder, it also has a lot of nonmotor effects. It can cause mood changes, like anxiety and depression; sleep changes; loss of sense of smell; constipation; and other nonmotor symptoms as well,” McGraw said.

Foelske was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease about two years ago. Before attending Rock Steady Boxing, he said he had no idea who else had Parkinson’s disease in DeKalb County. He credits the class for giving him a supportive community that understands what he’s going through.

Now four months into the program, Foelske said he just hopes the exercise regimen prevents the disease from progressing.

“Well I think hopefully it’s slowing the progression of the disease, which is kind of hard to measure but I think it’s helped with me with my walking. I have a smoother gait than I did before,” he said.

Cathy Foelske, Loren’s wife, attends Rock Steady Boxing with her husband. She does some of the exercises but said she’s really there to support her husband through the workout. She said Loren has benefited physically and socially from the program.

“He’s more balanced, and he just enjoys participating with other people and getting to know other people who have Parkinson’s as well,” Cathy Foelske said.

On Thursday, April 27 – an off-day for Rock Steady Boxing – the couple celebrated 38 years of marriage.