Article by:
Judith Potts
In 1817, Dr James Parkinson published "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy", in which he described "resting tremor, abnormal posture and gait, paralysis and diminished muscle strength" and went on to outline the progress of a disease, as yet un-named.
Other 19th century neurologists worked along similar lines but it was the French doctor, Jean-Martin Charcot, who identified further characteristics of the disease and who renamed it in honour of James Parkinson.
Parkinson’s disease is a complex condition with many potential symptoms that express themselves differently in each person. This neurodegenerative disease is caused by a depletion of dopamine in the basal ganglia of the brain. Lack of dopamine interferes with a person’s ability to initiate movement, keep movement going or, contrarily, to stop moving voluntarily.
I have three friends for whom Parkinson’s developed all too early and on whom it is taking its debilitating toll. According to Parkinson’s UK, every hour two people in the UK will be diagnosed with the condition. Currently, there is no cure, but there is a range of treatments to control the symptoms, although these can be accompanied by physical and psychological side effects – and invariably become unreliable over time.
As the disease develops, sufferers often develop depression. They are afflicted by decreased energy and motivation; difficulty with shaking limbs or freezing and being unable to move; changes in voice and speech; pain; insomnia; vision and dental problems; as well as the sheer frustration of finding everyday activities become more difficult.
Four years ago, my friend Alan introduced me to a very special class which he attends every week as part of his effort to prevent Parkinson’s from taking over his life. From its base at Markova House in Kensington, London, English National Ballet (ENB) runs its Dance for Parkinson’s programme. Inspired by the work of the Mark Morris Dance Group in Brooklyn, New York, for people with Parkinson’s, Tara Rojo, the ENB’s artistic director, launched her own series of classes and a network of independent dance artists and companies was born. That was in 2010 and, following investment by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation in 2012, there are now classes in Cardiff, Caerphilly, Ipswich, Liverpool and Oxford, all held in professional dance studios.
The Dance for Parkinson’s programme offers people with the condition, as well as their carers, friends and family members, the opportunity to engage in high-quality artistic dance activity, inspired by ENB’s repertoire. The day I joined the class was an experience I will never forget. Led by professional ballet dancers specially trained to work on the programme, we began by sitting on chairs and following arm movements. I realised to my astonishment that many of the participants who had been shaking were moving their arms with relative ease and control. The tremors had ceased. Then we progressed to standing and using our whole bodies, followed by rehearsing steps which took us across the floor.
When the class was over and the participants were sharing tea and biscuits, I asked Dr Sara Houston of Roehampton University, who was commissioned by ENB to research how dance may affect functional mobility, why some people found their tremors or stiffness lessened or disappeared during the class. She explained that it is thought that dance movements use a different pathway in the brain and, somehow, this was being used rather than the Parkinson’s pathway. Maybe one day it will be possible to re-route the pathway which produces the debilitating and distressing symptoms.
Since that day, Dr Houston has led two studies to investigate and understand more about the physical, psychological, social and emotional changes that occur as a result of participating in the programme. The results of her second study were published last year and confirm everything the programme set out to achieve. The activity of dance was shown not only to decrease (temporarily) the amount of freezing but also to aid fluency of movement and postural stability. What's more, participants consistently saw trends towards less interference of symptoms on everyday life.
The social side of the programme – visits to ENB ballet performances or enjoying professional dancers performing in the studio specially for participants, along with the camaraderie of shared experience and mutual support, proved that the classes give people with Parkinson’s a sense of achievement that enables them to stay motivated and have hope for the future. The study concludes that dancing offers people with Parkinson’s a physical activity that resonates deeply on intellectual, social and emotional levels.
Taking on a diagnosis of Parkinson’s for Alan means never giving up. He works tirelessly as a volunteer for Parkinson’s UK and he uses kick-boxing to keep his strength up. And, of course, he rarely misses a dance class.
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