NEW RESEARCH SHOWS BIKING REDUCES
TREMORS IN PARKINSON'S PATIENTS
PR Newswire - More than 1.5 million
Parkinson's patients currently suffer from uncontrollable leg, arm and hand
movements; and the number in the U.S. alone grows by 50,000 annually.
Now there is some good news on the horizon for Parkinson's patients - improving
motor functions in the legs, hands and arms of Parkinson's patients may be as
simple as riding a bike.
Dr. Angela Ridgel, an assistant professor in exercise science at Kent State
University, has confirmed that patients riding an assisted bike for eight weeks,
three times a week experience an increase in motor functions in their legs,
hands and arms. Dr. Ridgel suggests this assisted exercise is potentially
changing the nervous system. Dr. Ridgel's research - conducted with Dr. Jay
Alberts at the Cleveland Clinic - will be published in the 2009 Journal of
Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair.
Dr. Ridgel has since taken the research a step further at Kent State University
to help identify the optimum pedaling rate to achieve the best possible results.
Current research shows patients who rode an assisted bike one-time exhibited a
35 to 40 percent improvement that lasted beyond the day of the exercise.
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