Home Care Laguna Woods
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative brain disorder. A person’s brain slowly stops producing a neurotransmitter called dopamine. 
As dopamine decreases, a person has less and less ability to regulate their movements, body and emotions. Most people’s symptoms take years to develop, and they live for years with the disease. Parkinson’s in itself is not fatal but complications from it are serious and include loss of balance resulting in falls, difficulty with walking, tremors and in some cases dementia. There is no test for Parkinson’s disease; the diagnosis is established by listening to the symptoms and physical examination by an experienced clinician. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rated complications from PD as the 14th top cause of death in the United States. As of yet there is no cure, but there are numerous therapies that help the symptoms.
The gold-standard treatment for Parkinson’s is utilizing various combinations of drugs that help mitigate some of the symptoms. However, the use of some medications for long periods can cause other problems and side effects. A non-medication therapy that has been shown to be beneficial is exercise. There are numerous studies that show exercise therapy can provide a definitive improvement in patient’s quality of life. One form of exercise therapy that is gaining a lot of attention is boxing training. One recent study* included six patients with who attended boxing training sessions for 12 weeks. This case series showed short-term and long-term improvements in balance, gait, activities of daily living, and quality of life after the boxing training program and that the boxing training program was feasible and safe for these patients with PD.
There are now special boxing training programs. In Orange County there is a program called Rock Steady Boxing. They are a national organization and there are several locations in Orange County. For more information, visit https://rocksteadyboxing.org/
If you or an aging loved one are considering home care in Laguna Woods, CA or the surrounding Orange County areas, please call us at 949-535-2211. We provide senior care services in Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Woods, Laguna Beach, Mission Viejo and surrounding areas of Orange County California. Contact us today to learn more.
