Fighting Parkinson’s disease with rock climbing

When a group of people with Parkinson’s disease started rock climbing on the Carderock Cliffs in Maryland on a sweltering summer day, we were amazed at what we saw. Yes, rock climbing!

It’s all part of their therapy, says Molly Kupka, a no-nonsense instructor and cheerleader for the community of intrepid climbers.

She started the program, called UpENDing Parkinsons, as a nonprofit 12 years ago.

“There’s a lot of balance involved, there’s a lot of mobility involved, there’s strength, there’s cardio involved, and then there’s the cognitive part, where you look at a hold and how you move your body to get to that hold. I have to figure out whether to move it,” she said. .

How often does it fall? “Falling is definitely part of climbing,” Kupka says. But they don’t actually fall because they wear harnesses that provide a layer of safety. “You’re always on the rope. Even if you fall, you never fall very far. We always say that if you don’t fall, you’re not trying hard enough.”

There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, which usually affects motor skills, coordination, balance, and even language. John Lessin was diagnosed in 2003. He used to be an all-around player. About 12 years ago, he retired as a cardiac anesthesiologist due to Parkinson’s disease. His daughter Brittany watched his steady decline until she discovered a climbing wall as high as 60 feet.

“My dad has a hard time walking across the room, but he can climb to the top of this huge wall,” Brittany said. “There’s a lot of things he’s had to give up because of his illness. But this is something he’s found through his illness and it’s really amazing.”

John said, “When you get to the top, you feel like you’ve conquered something. And you feel like you can’t beat the wall. You can knock down the wall.”

Full disclosure: This story is very personal to me. My late husband, Aaron Latham, had Parkinson’s disease and boxed as a way to combat his symptoms. As he explained on “Sunday Morning” in 2015. “Boxing is the opposite of Parkinson’s disease,” Latham says. “Everything is not designed to shrink you; everything is designed to energize you.”

John Lessin said that Parkinson’s disease “makes you feel very small. You make small movements, you lean forward. And[rock climbing]makes you feel like you can accomplish the world.” Ta.

Lessin was the first to come up with the big idea of ​​using rock climbing as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease. “I wanted to do a big movement exercise,” he said. “And I found Molly at this gym.”

Lessin pitched the idea to Molly Kappka, who runs a sports rock climbing center in Alexandria, Virginia. She thought it was worth a try because the sport requires participants to plan ahead and know where to place their hands and feet. “I wish I could get into people’s brains and see what’s going on while they’re climbing,” Kupka said.

Some people with Parkinson’s disease, like Vivek Puri, develop dyskinesias (involuntary jerking movements). Puri says she doesn’t usually notice him. He owns a home construction company in the Washington, D.C., area, but was only 38 years old when he discovered he had Parkinson’s disease. “My fine motor skills decreased pretty dramatically,” he said. “If I don’t climb mountains for a certain period of time, I get sick.”

However, when he climbs the wall, he calls himself Spider-Man.

“To be honest, I climb like a monkey,” he said. “You’ll get more strength in your fingers and your fine motor skills will improve. You might not get it back, but you’ll be able to keep it moving.”

Although there is no evidence that mountain climbing slows the progression of Parkinson’s disease, Professor Kappka worked with Marymount University last year to study mountain climbing patients for the first time. “We have people literally walking and carrying weights and multitasking while walking and looking,” she said.

The study found that, in many words, climbing can make you walk better.

For Mark de Mulder, a musician and former director of the National Geospatial Program, he doesn’t need research to prove what mountaineering can do for him. “It allows me to say, ‘Okay, Parkinson’s patient, embrace it! I’m doing this!'” is fighting to do something about it. ”

Many of the climbers have become friends who climb together several times a week. They became Parkinson’s Pals, a support group where they encouraged each other.

“When you get to the top, you can look back and look and wave and see your wife and friends. That’s the reward,” De Mulder said. “It’s really wonderful.”

How these people are able to do this is not really understood, but we can certainly understand why. An emotional Vivek Puri said, “It’s great to be good at something.”

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Richard Buddenhagen and Kay Lim produced the story. Editor: George Pozderek.

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