Photo courtesy Rock Steady Boxing
Lindsay Dawson and Leisl Hymes are opening a gymnasium for a particular clientele.
They’re physical therapists with Lawrence Rehabilitation the Gait Center, and they are partners in Rock Steady Boxing Richmond, a program that offers boxing as a form of therapy for people with Parkinson’s disease.
The 1,800-square-foot gym is at 8191 Staples Mill Road and set to open Jan. 2
Boxing is a boon for people with Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative disorder with symptoms that include difficulties in walking and balance, slow movement, rigidity of limbs, and tremors. There is no cure for the disease, which affects about 4 percent of Americans. Hymes estimates the disease affects about 4,000 to 4,500 people in metro Richmond.
Hymes and Dawson heard about Rock Steady and were interested in the concept. Hymes visited a Rock Steady program first, was impressed. Then Dawson visited. They were both “super enthused” about the program and wanted to bring it to Richmond, says Dawson.
In the Rock Steady regimen, program participants train as boxers but don’t actually fight.
A workout involving developing the skills needed in boxing is great physical therapy for people with Parkinson’s and similar conditions, says Hymes. The training sessions are designed to work on fundamentals including balance, strength, footwork, eye-hand coordination, agility, force of movement and focus, all areas that pose a challenge for people with Parkinson’s.
“Boxing is far and away the most challenging sport,” Hymes says.
Dawson says each class is about 75 minutes long, and includes “lots of stretching,” about 20-25 minutes of boxing, then a cool-down. The noncontact workouts can be adapted to people at various stages of Parkinson’s, so someone whose condition limits them to sitting in a chair can participate as well.
Classes will be offered Monday-Thursday and Saturdays. Rock Steady is a nonprofit program, but its affiliate gyms, including the one in Richmond, are for-profit concerns. Clients pay about $120 a month for the program. Two or three sessions per week are recommended, but the fee covers unlimited classes.
CAPSULES
A roundup of the week’s health and medicine news
- The Children’s Museum of Richmond, 2626 W. Broad St., is the site for RVA Different Abilities Day, 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is a suggested donation of $10. The event, sponsored by the nonprofit Project: Just Like You, will feature a short film that celebrates diversity and people of all abilities. Refreshments will be served.
- There’s a new tool available at Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital for minimally invasive spine surgery, the ExcelsiusGPS robotic guidance and navigation system from Globus Medical. The first surgery at St. Mary’s using the device was performed Nov. 13 by Jed S. Vanichkachorn. St. Mary’s is one of four hospitals in the nation using the device. “Overall, patients who undergo a minimally invasive surgery may benefit from less postoperative pain, smaller incisions and minimal scars, a shorter hospitalization and faster recovery time,” says Francine Barr, the hospital’s CEO.
- Children whose mothers were overweight or obese before their pregnancy may be at greater risk for autism, attention deficit disorder or other neurodevelopmental problems, according to a study released in November led by Virginia Commonwealth University researchers. Children whose mothers were overweight were at a 17 percent higher risk, and children whose mothers were obese were at a 51 percent higher risk for developing neurodevelopmental problems and cognitive delays than were children born to mothers of average weight, according to the researchers. The study is titled “Maternal Pre-Pregnancy Obesity and Child Neurodevelopmental Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis” and was published in the journal Obesity Reviews.
- Richmond's public schools need school nurses. They’re looking for Virginia-licensed registered nurses, with a preference for those with a Bachelor of Science in nursing. Duties include administering first aid, providing emergency nursing services and helping to develop a school health program.
- Frog embryos developed cleft palates after exposure to simulated e-cigarettes in a Virginia Commonwealth University study, which researchers say suggests that vaping by pregnant women could lead to facial birth defects in their offspring. The study was published in September in the journal PLOS ONE.
- Social factors and personal experience with the disease are more important than race as deciding factors for women in taking part in breast cancer research, according to a recent study at Virginia Commonwealth University. According to a release, factors cited in women agreeing to study participation included a greater sense of well-being, access to health care, less religiousness, and having a diagnosis of a cancer that was caught at an earlier stage and was less aggressive. The study was released Nov. 16 in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship.
- People with HIV who have not been diagnosed account for about 40 percent of HIV transmission in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People are getting tested sooner, but there was a median of a three-year lag from infection to medical diagnosis in 2015. That was seven months earlier than the CDC had estimated in 2011, the CDC reported on Wednesday. People at higher risk for HIV (IV drug users, bisexual and gay men, and heterosexuals who have sex with people who are at risk or have HIV) should be tested yearly, according to the CDC. Everyone else, aged 13 to 64, should be tested at least once in their life.
