Y Offers Special Exercises for People with Parkinson’s Disease

Piscataway, NJ, March 20, 2023—A new program to help people in central New Jersey with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) will be available at Piscataway’s YMCA at 520 Hoes Lane. The session will be offered on Saturday mornings starting April 1st at 10:30 a.m., and lasting for 90 minutes.

According to published reports some 22,000 New Jerseyans have PD. Though most people in the state with this disease are first diagnosed with PD in their 60s and 70s, there are some younger folks too.

If a PD patient doesn’t get medical help and suitable exercise, their life may be more quickly restricted. The rate at which the restrictions become more severe is unknown but is specific for each person. The safest and most researched intervention to treat impairments associated with PD is exercise. PD wellness and recovery (PWR)! moves is all about using forced high intensity exercise and big movements to promote neuroprotection and neuroplasticity. All the moves are designed to target the specific motor impairments that accompany PD.
Ms. Meribeth Brookman will lead the exercise sessions. She is a physical therapist assistant with over five years of experience guiding exercises. Also, she interned at JFK Hospital specializing in helping people with PD.
“Ms. Brookman makes exercising fun and she knows scores of types of exercises that are effective and ideal for folks with PD, sometimes referred to as Parkies,” says
Fred White, a Piscataway Parkie who relies on Ms. Brookman’s exercises twice a week. These sessions can include PWR! Moves and rock steady boxing (RSB), a known and proven method for slowing the loss of abilities. Some people know RSB as shadow boxing.
The cost for the exercise sessions depends on various factors, such as age and residential location. Please feel welcome of visit www.ymcaofmewsa.org for details.
For those who are not sure if they have PD diagnosis, or know of someone who might have it, the symptoms of PD include one or more of:
• Tremor,
• Slowed movement such as dragging or shuffling of feet,
• Rigid muscles,
• Impaired posture and balance,
• Loss of automatic movements,
• Speech changes and swallowing ability,
• Writing changes.
• Loss of ability to smell aromas.
Only a physician can provide a PD diagnosis.
--end--
Press contacts:
YMCA 732-562-2302
Hannah Thomas
hannah.thomas@ymcaofmewsa.org

or
F. J. White
607 Ellis Pkwy.
Piscataway, NJ 08854
732-331-6165
fjbwhite@gmail.com