RMU: Swords vs. Parkinson’s – students and seniors engaging in playful fights for health
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- Craig Barlow punches a pillow held by Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions physical therapy student Alex Gomez during a Parkinson’s exercise program.
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- Craig Barlow stretches while being helped by Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions physical therapy student Spencer Ochko during a Parkinson’s exercise program session at RMU.
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- Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions physical therapy and speech-language pathology students assist Fred during the school’s Parkinson’s exercise program.
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- Paul Bringhurst smacks a photo of a bear during an activity conducted as part of the Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions Parkinson’s exercise program.
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- Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions student Perri Freeman, right, spars with Jeremiah Edwards, who’s being guarded by Jimenez Flores.
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- Fred Nozawa and Paul Bringhurst duel for exercise during the Parkinson’s exercise program at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions in Provo.
Every so often, students and seniors at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions channel Inigo Montoya by wielding swords and going on the attack against a formidable foe.
The playful sword fighting — with foam swords, of course — is an entertaining and engaging part of a student-led exercise program that RMU hosts twice a week each semester for people battling Parkinson’s disease. The lunging and laughing are among many activities they do to strike back at the neurodegenerative disorder that’s attacking them.
If he wanders by, the Six-Fingered Man — Montoya’s nemesis in “The Princess Bride” — needn’t fret … yet. He should at least prepare to die with a smile on his face if he sees all the colorful foam pool noodles and fencing fun.
“I come here for the exercise because it has throttled down the rate of progression of my Parkinson’s. It has made a definite difference,” said Santaquin resident Craig Barlow, a retired metallurgical engineer who was diagnosed four years ago. “I absolutely look forward to it.”
A swashbuckling start
Launched in 2022 as an integrated clinical experience for physical therapy, the Parkinson’s exercise program has expanded to include speech-language pathology. Occupational therapy will join soon. These programs teach students and collaborate to help patients manage Parkinson’s disease, a condition that impairs movement, balance and other bodily functions as dopamine-producing nerve cells become damaged.
“While Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurologic disorder without a cure, research suggests that regular, high-intensity activity can slow the progression and improve quality of life,” said Christa Young, an RMU associate professor who started the program with fellow physical therapy faculty member Tyler Luszeck. “This program aims to provide an opportunity for that regular activity while training student healthcare providers to deliver excellent, effective and evidence-based care.”
Twice a week during lunchtime, the Parkinson’s patients arrive in their workout clothes and participate in a wide variety of exercises and activities. For an hour, the sixth floor of the university’s main building (the former Novell tower) in south Provo bursts into a hive of carefully planned, supervised and safely executed activity. There’s hustling, bustling, memorizing, reciting, sweating, smiling, snorting, bonding, teaching, learning, encouraging and laughing — lots of laughing.
“It’s a whole lot of fun dancing, jamming to music, throwing things,” Young said, smiling. “People walk by and ask, ‘What’s going on?'”
Dual purpose, duel energy
This popular high-intensity, adaptive exercise and maintenance program serves dual (and duel) purposes.
It gives second-year Doctor of Physical Therapy and Master of Science Medical Speech-Language Pathology students an opportunity to actively learn while helping people. It also provides a group of community members dealing with an incurable progressive condition the chance to stimulate their bodies, minds and voices.
With guidance and feedback from faculty, students design the classes to address the major mobility, speech and cognitive concerns for individuals in lively and energetic ways.
“We work on incorporating with PT as well as planning separate speech activities for them that focus on loudness and cognition and dual tasks in general,” said Jordan Pearson, an RMU speech-language pathology student. “We’ve had to learn a lot about scaffolding because, especially in a group setting, there are some patients who are really quick, really fast cognitively, and there are others who are struggling a little bit more. It’s important to learn how to scale activities to meet patients where they’re at rather than pushing them too far out of that therapeutic zone.”
In addition, all physical therapy students are encouraged to be one-on-one helpers. They keep participants safe and individualize the intensity of activities, providing an opportunity for real-time application of the skills they are learning in coursework.
It’s education in action.
“The students are great. They keep us safe. They hold onto the belts so we don’t fall,” Barlow said. “They enjoy spurring us on, ‘Take a step higher, move a little faster.’ They encourage us.”
While physical therapy students help patients do activities that work on strength, endurance, balance, moving in all directions and posture, the speech-language pathology volunteers give class members a mental workout and help them speak up.
Students plan and prepare for each hour-long session, making sure to include activities that simultaneously engage the seniors’ motor skills and mental acuity — all while having a ball.
“The interprofessional collaboration has been huge. We go through our plan together,” RMU physical therapy student Stephen Powers said. “While we’re doing exercises, we’ll have them do standing marches, and then they’ll work the speech answering questions so that you have that dual tasking.”
Sometimes the group will go on simulated backpacking and camping adventures. They’ll serve guests food and drinks from a platter they carried. They’ll stomp and clap while saying their own name and the name of another person. They’ll play floor hockey, walk like monsters, decorate rooms, go hunting and make snowmen. Recently, group members transformed into Rocky Balboa clones and did boxing exercises.
“When I taught on Halloween, we had them run down the hall as if they were doing a ding dong ditch,” Powers said, grinning. “Then you would do monster walks. Other people have them climbing over tables (if able) or getting up and down.”
During the holidays, students helped seniors zig-zag, side-step, duck and jump through an obstacle course in the hallway. Chuckles ensued as the patients repeated jokes: How did the reindeer learn to play the piano? He was elf-taught. What do gingerbread men use when they break their legs? Candy canes.
Bonds beyond the classroom
RMU speech-language pathology student Aubrey Huffaker also enjoys the aspect of getting to work with students and supervisors from other disciplines. It’s a model of interdisciplinary collaboration.
“It’s an interdisciplinary team, so it’s been really fun to learn how to work with physical therapists and their supervisors, as well as my supervisor and my team, and to be able to coordinate,” she said. “And it’s been extremely valuable because it’s real-life practice outside of the classroom.”
Getting to know the patients on a personal level has been rewarding, Huffaker said. She also loves how they benefit in multiple ways.
“It’s extremely valuable for the patients,” she said. “It’s a huge social outlet.”
Perri Freeman values the forged friendships, including with the amicable Fred Nozawa.
“Fred and I have become kind of tight. I’m just like Fred,” the physical therapy student said while waving around a form sword. “And then Deidre (Johnson) and I have gotten to be pretty good friends. I just smack her with a pool noodle as we walk by. Usually, I’m getting attacked, though.”
Building relationships and trust helps the students and the patients feel more comfortable with pushing limits to maximize progress and knowing when to let them take it at an easier pace. For instance, there are days when patients might use a walking stick and other days when they use a walker while doing the exercises. The familiarity allows her to know when she can push them harder because she knows they can do more.
“It’s been stellar,” said Spencer Ochko, a physical therapy student. “You get to hang out with somebody who’s happy to be here, and you get to see them do awesome things.”
Students change each semester — allowing more volunteers the opportunity for hands-on service and learning about Parkinson’s and geriatric care — but most of the patients referred by local neurology offices keep coming back for more. Because of logistics, the free sessions are capped at 15.
“It’s just taken off,” Luszeck said. “A lot of people have been here since day one and they don’t want to leave. It’s a passion.”
Movement as medicine
Karla Bowles is grateful for how the program has helped her husband, Jeff.
“The best time is when they push them to do more than they would probably do on their own,” she said.
Tracked data from testing at the beginning and end of each semester reveals positive results, even if it’s simply maintaining levels of mobility and cognition.
“It gets him moving, and that’s the best medicine for Parkinson’s — movement,” Bowles said. “It’s the only thing that really prolongs the downward spiral.”
Social interactions are an important part of the program. Parkinson’s can lead to isolation and loneliness.
“The students are great. They make it fun,” Barlow said. “Exercising at home is just kind of ‘blah’ compared to what they do here. They make it a lot more enjoyable to exercise…. We always love the competitive stuff. We do volleyball sometimes, soccer, sword fights like today.”
With that, his friend Fred jokingly mentioned the famous sword-fighting secret that Montoya revealed in “The Princess Bride.” En garde, future foes: Perhaps he’s also not really left-handed.
Either way, the fight against Parkinson’s disease will continue at RMU — one playful jab at a time.
