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Most often when people experience knee pain, I find the underlying cause is weak glutes. Even avid exercisers often cannot fire their glutes properly.

Strong glutes are vital for everyone, especially if you have Parkinson’s. The glutes are an incredibly important muscle group for many reasons. They balance out gait, assist in fall prevention, improve posture, and prevent back, hip and knee pain and injury.

Why is it that the glutes can be so difficult to activate?

Continue reading “The Best Exercise for Addressing Parkinson’s Painful Knees”

Gardening can certainly cause a host of aches and pains. Why? Because gardening puts us in precarious positions by twisting, bending, reaching, and often spending too much time in those positions that are not healthy for our bodies. This is all compounded by a time constraint of fair-weather opportunities.

Let’s start by thinking of gardening as a workout. First, you need a warm-up. You could walk, march in place, or maybe take a Parkinson’s Boxing-bootcamp class… anything you can do to raise your heart rate and increase your core temperature. Jumping right into gardening with cold muscles is never a good idea. It may save you time in beginning, but it will result in pain and may set you back for several days.

After you’ve warmed up you should do several extension exercises. Gardening and yard work are almost always forward flexing of the spine, which is particularly bad if you have Parkinson’s disease.

Continue reading “Great Tips and Stretches to Prevent Back Pain When Gardening with Parkinson’s”

You have to keep your glutes and back muscles strong to maintain your balance and prevent falls.  Here is another great way to workout in your home with the safety of using a wall. We all have access to a wall! Just make sure it doesn’t have any windows or pictures to hit your head on.

Statistics show most falls happen sideways, and in your own home. This is a great way to practice walking sideways safely and work the muscles that help with balance… your glutes!

See video below:

Continue reading “Do You Have Parkinson’s? Want an Exercise To Prevent Falls? Use A Wall!”

One of my followers reached out to me saying her hamstrings have been tight due to Parkinson’s. Working in the garden bent over has made them worse, and now her back hurts too. Another fighter said that they’re having issues with plantar fasciitis. Luckily, I have an answer to help them both… ADDRESS YOUR FEET!

Fascia is a band or layer of connective tissue (primarily collagen) under the skin that attaches and separates muscles and encases internal organs. Fascia can get very tight and knotted up, causing pain and stiffness. People with Parkinson’s disease get even more tight. This tightness compounds every day if it’s not addressed. Therefore, it’s very important to release it so the underlying muscles can glide and function properly.

This myofascial release technique is great for treating tight hamstrings, back aches, foot and calf pain.

Continue reading “Are Your Hamstrings Tight Due to Parkinson’s Disease? Address Your Feet!”

After last week’s blog post and video on upper body stretches to off-set stiffness (it often happens to people with Parkinson’s from too much sitting) I decided I wanted provide you with a lower body routine too.

Everyone, regardless of Parkinson’s or not, needs to take frequent stretch breaks. Too much computer, T.V., or seated projects puts your body in a forward flexed position. Your hip flexors get overly tight when you sit, and because tightness in this area is a huge problem with Parkinson’s, too much sitting adds to pain and stiffness. You must take a movement break every 20 minutes. This is an easy, quick lower body stretch routine that is great for combating too much sitting. 

Continue reading “I Need A Quick Lower Body Stretch Routine for Someone with Parkinson’s”