Some days I will get a clunky feeling, often first thing in
the morning, that my body wants to do something other than what I want it to
do. Another way to describe it might be, if my body were a puzzle, someone just
knocked the completed puzzle off the table and all the previously in place
pieces are now scattered. The body is fighting every attempt to walk, to move
my arms , hands, neck, etc. I can still do anything I try, I just move slower
and have to try harder. This takes more energy and unless I fix it, I will be
exhausted in no time. I like to think of this as PD kidnapping my body and
daring me to come and get it back.
PD is no challenge for me in fixing this symptom. I win
every time. So here is the fix. I stumbled on music therapy the hard way. When
I began a regular daily exercise of walking and stationary biking, to help with the boredom and make
the time go by as I went through my aerobic routine, I tried listening to loud,
rhythmic, upbeat music and noticed how remarkably fast my reluctant body fell
in line and did exactly what I wanted as soon as I asked. Immediately! It was
as though somebody put all the pieces to the dropped puzzle back in place in
one or two seconds. It’s best if you can walk (or stationary bicycle or stairs,
or anything) to the beat, but not essential for me. Using music therapy I am
now able to make this PD symptom go away
like its afraid of me. (It should me. I’m one tough MF.) Or maybe it’s the
music. I rather think it’s me being tough. You gotta problem with that?
Seriously, until PD decided to make a home for itself in my body, I never had
the extreme passion for music that takes over by muscles and chases PD the hell
out. Music is the most pwerful drug I take for eliminating Parkinson’s symptoms
because it drives me to exercise with an intensity that I could not otherwise
achieve. Believe me when I tell you this. The intensity of my workout would be
a fraction of what I can do with loud, driving upbeat tunes. Right now I am listening
and exercising to Imagine Dragons, Talking Heads, some hard Dylan and Nelly. I
use Spotify’s paid service because for $10 or so dollars a month, I get to listen
to virtually every tune recorded that I have even a remote interest in.
I came across someone else’s solution for fixing the dropped
puzzle feeling. They use a bouncing ball; I tried it and it works every time, but it's not effective in infusing extreme intensity into my workout like music. It is a quick fix for adjusting your discombobulated and uncooperating muscles. I use a nice bouncy racket ball (the ultra-blue
Penn ball) and a flat hard surface and bounce the ball from my left hand to
right hand, over and over, while standing. By the time I hit 50 or 60 bounces,
less than two minutes, the body has been taken back from Parkinson’s Disease, I
thumb my nose it’s way and get on with my day.
Try it. See if it works. If not, try a variation that might
work for you. Good luck.
Or if you know of someone who can benefit from this
very simple symptom fixer, please send the link. They will thank you (if they
are polite).
The two videos show me practicing what I’m preaching..
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