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Learn more about sport and exercise
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The story…

Boxing to beat Parkinson’s disease

Learn language related to…

health and lifestyle

Need-to-know language…

quality of life – level of enjoyment and happiness in someone’s life

rock bottom – the lowest possible level

medical intervention – using medicines to improve or cure an illness

exercise-orientated therapy – treatment that involves being physically active

back on its feet – start operating successfully again

Answer this…

When was Tommy diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease?

Transcript

This is training for the body and the brain.

Tommy set up Rock Steady Boxing club three years ago. He trained in America, where the clubs for people with Parkinson's first began.

Tommy O'Connor, Rock Steady Boxing
Well, they're what motivate me. I have my bad days, exactly the same as the guys here because I was diagnosed in 2013 with it, and it is progressive. Eventually it will overtake [me]. I'll be here as often as we can, and keep Rock Steady Boxing working, because it does work. It doesn't cure Parkinson's, but it will give you a better quality of life.

Jackie has been coming from the beginning, six years after she was diagnosed with Parkinson's.

Jackie Wilson, Parkinson's patient
I was at rock bottom when I first came here, and it's given me my confidence back, and made me part of a team, and I'm so much steadier on my feet.

Mairead Smyth, BBC reporter
Medical research shows that these sessions can actually improve neuroplasticity, which means the brain can actually rewire itself around structural damage. And those who take part in these sessions become less dependent on medical intervention.

Dr Ryan Mason, National Health Service
There's lots of evidence that all of these neurological diseases, and many other diseases, benefit from exercise-orientated therapy. And this specifically attacks the symptoms of Parkinson's disease. So, there are specific stations for balance, for coordination, for tremor, for… even for your voice because the patients often start to talk very quietly. So, the patients walk out of here looking almost sometimes like they don't have Parkinson's disease.

The group is getting back on its feet after the sessions had to go online during the pandemic. Tommy's keen to get even more men and women involved.

Tommy O'Connor, Rock Steady Boxing
I've been inundated with requests to join, which is brilliant. Which means I might have to put more classes on for everybody, because my aim is not to turn people away.

Did you get it?

When was Tommy diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease?

He was diagnosed in 2013.

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