Rocksteady Boxing
The mission of Rock Steady Boxing is to empower people with Parkinson’s disease to fight back.
THE CHALLENGE
Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative movement disorder that can cause deterioration of motor skills, balance, speech, and sensory function.
The Parkinson’s Disease Foundation estimates there are more than 1 million people in the United States diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and more than 60,000 people are diagnosed each year. Rock Steady Boxing is the first gym in the country dedicated to the fight against Parkinson’s.
In our gym, exercises are largely adapted from boxing drills. Boxers condition for optimal agility, speed, muscular endurance, accuracy, hand-eye coordination, footwork, and overall strength to defend against and overcome opponents. At RSB, Parkinson’s disease is the opponent. Exercises vary in purpose and form but share one common trait: they are rigorous and intended to extend the perceived capabilities of the participant.
THE ROCK STEADY BOXING SOLUTION
Various studies in the 1980s and 1990s supported the notion that rigorous exercise, emphasizing gross motor movement, balance, core strength, and rhythm, could favorably impact a range of motion, flexibility, posture, gait, and activities of daily living. More recent studies, most notably at Cleveland Clinic, focus on the concept of intense “forced” exercise and have begun to suggest that certain kinds of exercise may be neuro-protective, i.e., actually slowing disease progression.
