Kimberly Berg gives Parkinson’s the old one, two with boxing classes
Created on Wednesday, 01 July 2015 22:32 | Written by Geoff Pursinger
Tigard boxing class aims to help with Parkinson’s symptoms.
Music blares from speakers at Next Level Mixed Martial Arts in Tigard as Pat Sousa punches the air in time to a soundtrack of 1980s jams.
Sousa has been taking boxing lessons at the gym two days a week for months, but he says he has no intention of ever hitting anyone.
Instead, he’s going toe-to-toe with a very different kind of foe. He’s fighting Parkinson’s disease.
Sousa is a member of the Rock Steady Rose City Rebels, a group of Parkinson’s patients who use boxing as a way to help abate some of the disease’s symptoms.
Run by exercise physiologist Kimberly Berg, Rock Steady is the only program of its type in Oregon.
Boxing training may seem like an odd choice for Parkinson’s patients, Sousa’s wife Melanie Wilson said, but it really has an effect.
“Boxers work on the same things that Parkinson’s patients deal with, things like agility and balance and strength training,” she said.
Check it out:
What: Rock Steady boxing program for Parkinson’s patients
Where: Next Level Mixed Martial Arts, 14865 S.W. 74th Ave., Tigard
For more information about Rock Steady and Berg’s program, email kimberly@kimberlyberg.net
Sousa heard about Rock Steady on a trip to Indiana where the program is based.
After attending a class, Sousa and Wilson said they contacted Berg and told her to bring the program to Oregon.
“If I had not seen it with own eyes, I wouldn’t believe what they were doing with Parkinson’s patients,” said Wilson, who helps out during Sousa’s sessions.
‘Here, it’s go-go-go’
Parkinson’s is a degenerative neurological disease that effects motor skills. It’s estimated that there are more than 1 million people across the country with the disease.
Exercise can help keep Parkinson’s disease’s symptoms at bay. Berg’s uncle was an amateur boxer and she said she knew she wanted to incorporate boxing into her physical therapy, but said it never really clicked until she started Rock Steady in December.
“It’s all about tough love and making them hit hard,” she said.
Berg said it doesn’t take long to see a difference in her patients.
“They just come alive,” she said. “It gives them a chance to get their aggression out and get moving.”
Sousa said that it’s difficult for Parkinson’s patients to work out at a traditional gym even though they understand its importance.
“When I am having trouble getting up off the floor, that would be embarrassing at a gym, but here it’s go-go-go,” he said.
Boxing is a contact sport, but Berg said her classes don’t involve any sparring.
“We aren’t hitting each other; we’re boxing Parkinson’s itself,” she said. “Parkinson’s robs people of their personality. They slow down. They’re not as assertive. What better way to get that back than hitting a bag and shouting? They want to fight their Parkinson’s and this is a way that they can do it. Literally.”
Berg has about 14 students in her boxing class, which meets twice a week at the Tigard gym she rents.
Berg said she’d like to see the program expand.
“My goal is to start a class for people who have more mobility issues, maybe a chair-based boxing program,” she said. “I want to open one in downtown Portland. Wherever there’s enough interest, I’ll start one.”
Berg is hosting an open house on July 11 where she hopes to get the word out about the program.
“We want more women boxers,” she said, “and volunteers. If you don’t have Parkinson’s, but have a boxing background, come in. We’ll put you to work.”
‘This is why I do this’
Rock Steady has affiliates in 10 states, as well as Australia and Canada, but Berg is the first to bring the program to Oregon.
“I’ve had patients tell me ‘It’s so much more fun to tell the grandkids I’m going to boxing class than to say you’re going to physical therapy,’” Berg said.
And her patients feed off each other’s energy, she said.
“When you are in class with other people who have the same enemy that you’re fighting, holy smokes, there is a lot of community in that,” she said.
Parkinson’s is generally considered to be a disease impacting older people, but Berg said that’s a misconception.
“I have patients who are in their 40s,” she said. “This is why I do this. It could be me, or my husband. Parkinson’s has been diagnosed in people as young as 12. We need to help our brothers and sisters because this could happen to anybody and we don’t know what causes it.”
As Sousa’s class winds down for the afternoon, the group stretches and high-fives one another before reciting their familiar mantra.
“I’m brave. I’m mighty. I’m sexy. I’m strong!” they shout together. “Grrrrrrr!!”