Inspiration for those who like to exerci... - Cure Parkinson's
Inspiration for those who like to exercise. Alex 12 Jimmy 15 years with pd.
Hi Jimmy
I admire your story and agree with everything you say.
My Pd started at the age of 29. in 1963. In 1968 I had not yet been diagnosed with Pd but was being treated for the symptoms.
In 1968 I started going to the gym and gave it my all. I did n to have the time to enter races because I was running a business and I was only able to go to the gym early in the morning, before my factory opened.
I was eventually diagnosed in 1992 and in 1994 I stopped going to the gym because my Pd was getting worse and worse. My kate wife eventually persuaded me to join a Walking Program and when I started walking as fast as I could, I started getting better.
By 2002, I was able to stop taking any Pd medication and at the age of 68 I was able to take the time to walk three times a week and for my speed up to less than 7 minutes per kilometre. I continues to do the walking until 2018, when other health problems stopped me being able to walk. Then My Pd symptoms started to get worse, because, like you, I am not cured. Regardless of the state of my health, at the age of 86 I am walking 2 kilometres averyu second day at a little over 10 minutes a kilometre and I am aiming to get back to walking at least 6 kilometres within one hour as soon as possible,
Until then, I still live enjoy my life and to hell with my Pd!
Good luck!
Mr. Pepper, I read your book and started using your method of walking in about May (Julian Lo put me on to you). I was not diagnosed until August. This week I am up to 55 minutes of fast walking. I can only walk at a rate of about 15 minutes per mile. I don't know how you keep the pace you do, but thank you for the inspiration. I also Rock Steady Box, do Pilates, and hour of Rogue physical therapy for Parkinson's (I follow on YouTube), and when the gyms open back up I hope to pursue Thai Chi and dancing. I also follow a strict keto diet developed at the University of Iowa. I am not on meds yet. Just wanted to pop in here and thank you. I stand up straight, hold my head up, and walk with intention because of you. Love from Indiana, USA.
Hi GrandmaBug. Thanks for contacting me.
You sound to me as though you are doing too much exercise, which can be worse than doing too little. You should NEVER do fast walking every day. You should start at 20 minutes at the most and increase by a maximum of 5 minutes every second week.
Having read my book I am sure you know all this, but is that what you did?
Your speed will continue to improve, SLOWLY, over the next 2 years. Don't be impatient!
When I got up to one hour, every second day, I was not going as fast as you are!
Please be wary of doing too much exercise.
There's no evidence that GrandmaBug is doing too much exercise. You are making stuff up again.
On the contrary: This week I am up to 55 minutes of fast walking. I can only walk at a rate of about 15 minutes per mile. I don't know how you keep the pace you do, but thank you for the inspiration. I also Rock Steady Box, do Pilates, and hour of Rogue physical therapy for Parkinson's (I follow on YouTube), and when the gyms open back up I hope to pursue Thai Chi and dancing.
That sounds like a lot of exercise to me.
No, it isn't. The more exercise the better for PWP. She sounds like she is doing very well
It depends on how old she is, whether she is doing too much or not.
Here is a recent email that spells out a result:
Email from Lisa Oei
The John Pepper Story
By Lisa Oei, PT, MSPT, DPT, Founder of PD-Connect.org May /2020 I first heard about John Pepper in “Chapter 2” in Dr Doidge’s book The Brain’s Way of Healing. I picked up on the concept of “learned non-use” and made it the core teaching of my concierge private practice as a physical therapist working exclusively with Parkinson’s. To my great delight, John came to the San Francisco Bay Area to do live lectures. I attended two of the lectures within a week, and my client attended the 3rd meeting.
The most remarkable moments came when he took a person from the audience, usually someone in a wheelchair or who used a walker, and he would have them go up on their toes, kick their leg out, swing their arms and then say to them, “There!! You have just done all the things needed to walk. You just forgot that you have legs. So, let us reconnect with your legs…and walk” And then, with a little encouragement and stability, these wheelchaired people would walk across the room…as the audience watched in awe.
After meeting John, I soon applied his conscious walking method to a new client; an athletic, former USA Rugby player. Standing tall, in that Pd posture, he was showing classic signs of the progression of Pd. Most prominently was his difficulty with gait and balance.
He could not walk more than a few steps without shuffling his foot. He had a lack of arm swing. And he tended to lean forward in his posture while walking.
My client was of athletic build and an avid sportsman. His passions included playing golf (he is an exceptional golfer), duck hunting, hiking, and traveling but he had stopped some of those activities for three years, notably golf, when his gait became more problematic.
We focused immediately on the techniques of conscious walking. And slowly, with extreme focus on the walking details, we set goals. First, it was to walk between two parking metres without shuffling. Next, it was between two telephone poles without shuffling. Then it was one full block without shuffling…and so on, and so on. And like in The Brain’s Way of Healing, if we talked too much, my client’s foot would shuffle. Eventually the blocks became miles on hilly sidewalks and then mountainous terrain. He commented one day about how he had gone on a very rocky and hilly hike in Arizona and he could walk very well! I remarked that when he was walking along cliff edges and boulders, he was consciously walking instead of the automatic walk on sidewalks that used to cause him to shuffle. One of the most remarkable characteristics about my client is that he applies his skills as a CEO to his Parkinson’s work. He takes each Parkinson’s symptom that comes along and addresses it like a CEO would solve a business problem. His focus, drive, and discipline at each of our sessions resulted in cumulative gains that have allowed him to do everything he wants to do in his life. The main lesson he has taken from John Pepper’s work is that walking should be the focal point of PD exercise. If you lose your ability to walk, your life shrinks and becomes difficult.
Now, he is back to walking eighteen holes of golf and can play two to three days in a row. He even got a new puppy to be his walking partner. His new goal is to not just meet his first grandchild, but to wrestle with them.
I have others but will have to look for them.
Great post deployment I'll just keep on running
Clini crowd video walking with and without laser shoes
PEMF Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy 
