Feb 02 2010
Table Tennis and Health
Looking for a new exercise venue that is fun and has the potential to offer sustained relief from the symptoms of Parkinson’s? Brad has a novel suggestion that works for him: table tennis.
I wanted to mention a new idea for Parkinson’s Disease exercise: table tennis. I am talking serious, competitive table tennis. I have not played for 25 years, but I just spent 3 hours playing with NO symptoms (I have not medicated for a few days). I’m pretty rusty, but I was able to execute high-speed movements, with eye-hand coordination, and no tremor for the duration. Also, this level of play works up a pretty good sweat and cardio rate.
Brad
Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
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[...] Read this article: Table Tennis and Health [...]
Here’s a clip showing one woman’s struggle with neurological disease (not Parkinson’s) and how she has turned from swimming to table tennis for athletic competition.
I have PD. When I return a table tennis volley the ball is coming at me at 25-65 mph with various degrees of spin and curvature. It traverses the 9 foot table in a quarter of a second or less and requires millions of neural pathways to fire precisely in order to position my body, plan my swing, and execute the return smoothly. While I am nowhere near as polished as these players, I am able to play normally. For up to three hours my symptoms of tremor, rigidity and slowness disappear. I cannot explain this, only finding that the human brain (and dopamine release at the synapse) is far more complex than any of us realize.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_k8eV-YF-0