May 20, 2024
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Free exercise class may help with Parkinson’s symptoms

Morris Hospital/Morris YMCA’s Pedaling for Parkinson’s class begins Nov. 8

By Denise M. Baran-Unland

Dian Nielsen, left, encourages her students as they do climbing intervals on their bikes during a Pedaling for Parkinson's class at the Kishwaukee Family YMCA in Sycamore. The program celebrated two years in February 2019. Morris Hospital and the Morris Community YMCA will be hosting classes in November and DEcember. (Kelsey Rettke)

Morris Hospital and the Morris Community YMCA are offering a free exercise class that may help people with Parkinson’s disease manage their symptoms.

Pedaling for Parkinson’s is designed to help people improve their “gait, balance, speech, handwriting and overall endurance,” according to a news release from Morris Hospital.

The class is based on the research of Dr. Jay Alberts of the Cleveland Clinic and the Lerner Research Institute. The institute “studies how the brain controls skilled movements, and how changes in the ways the brain works can affect movement,” according to its website.

Alberts has researched how pedaling affects Parkinson’s symptoms and is currently leading a clinical trial on the topic.

Cathy Frazier, co-founder of Pedaling for Parkinson’s, said on the Pedaling for Parkinson’s website that she had a 35 percent reduction in her Parkinson’s symptoms (as evaluated by Alberts using the Unified Parkinson’s disease Rating Scale) after she rode a tandem bicycle with Alberts in the DesMoines Register’s Great Bike Ride Across Iowa in 2003.

The Pedaling for Parkinson’s classes will be held from Nov. 8 through Dec. 17 at LivFit studio, 109 E. Jefferson St. in Morris. Morris Hospital wellness staff with support from physical therapists will teach the classes, the release said.

Classes will be held from 1 to 2 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. All participants must receive their doctor’s approval before attending, the release said.

To register and for more information, call the Morris Community YMCA at 815-513-8080.