I highly recommend anyone with Parkinson's get a basketball or a netball - the weight and feel matters a lot - and just play, feel, stimulate the muscle memories which are still there. Bounce, balance, catch, throw your way back to moving, every single day. Explore, play, be curious. Practice, but make sure you have fun with it. Enjoy whatever movement you can release, no matter how small. Feel good when you manage to extend your range. Feel good factor = dopamine reward = more movement = more feel good - and that is science fact. In the video I am playing by myself, the therapeutic effects are magnified by the social quotient of playing ball with family members and friends by massive amounts.
For me, the results have been amazing. The inclusion of a basketball into my exercise-to-music therapy is unlocking me incredibly fast. There is something magic to the body's memory about holding this type of ball. While no sound with this next video, it is worth sticking with it all the way through. Points to note include how tall I am standing now and the section without the ball - just look at how expressive my hands have become again.
In this third video diary entry, and by the way these three films were taken at the same time of the morning three days in a row, you can see how already the ball is only needed at the beginning of the session to get me into the flow or mindset of the motion. I have done something a bit different with this third video though. I have included side-by-side a video of myself in January 2016.
The results of Out-Thinking Parkinson's now speak for themselves.
For our next trick, I will be playing around with balloons, as a friend suggested this as the opposite extreme of a heavy ball. Curiosity and Play reign supreme in Parkinson's Recovery!