Many members of Olympia Boxing's Boxing4Parkinsons sessions are seeing improvements, not just in their physical health, but their mental wellbeing too.
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00:00 [Music]
00:08 Parkinson's UK estimated that last year there were 128,000 people living with Parkinson's disease in the UK.
00:15 This raises the question of what those diagnosed can do to manage the condition and promote their well-being.
00:21 As they say, for Parkinson's, one of the most important things is to keep your fitness.
00:25 I think it's improved my balance and my coordination.
00:30 And it was a surprise really that it was so beneficial to Parkinson's.
00:35 It seems to be really taking off.
00:38 Any exercise helps, but this helps in particular because it's got so many formats to it.
00:42 Building up muscle and the whole thing.
00:44 It takes a bit of courage to actually come to somewhere you don't know anybody.
00:47 But once you've done it, I mean, they're all sort of friendly.
00:50 They're all friendly, we all chat and have a good laugh as well.
00:56 Born from a need for community support for those with Parkinson's,
01:00 Boxing for Parkinson's has been run by Olympia Boxing director Wayne Smith for the last seven years.
01:06 He emphasises the wide range of benefits that boxing brings to participants' mental and physical well-being.
01:12 It's a high intensity exercise that creates the dopamine that they're missing.
01:16 It's the regulation, like through the punching, the coordination, the movement, everything that involves in boxing.
01:22 It re-regulates them and members of their families have been saying,
01:27 "I get the old feel back for a couple of hours."
01:30 And some of them saying, "Listen, when I come home, my shakes are less, everything, my speech is better."
01:36 More gyms across the country are now recognising boxing as a valuable sport for all.
01:41 Coaches at St Mary's are looking forward to seeing more accessible programmes become available
01:45 and are hoping to increase support for their own.
01:48 At the moment it's entirely put on by Olympia Boxing, by our boss,
01:51 so it's entirely funded off our own back and to do with St Mary's, the boxing gym.
01:55 But it would be really, really good for hopefully a bit more community support
01:58 and a bit more everybody getting involved coming around to help us.
02:01 Having learned about the beneficial relationship between boxing and Parkinson's disease,
02:05 I wanted to know more about what the diagnosis means to those with it and the people supporting them.
02:10 It's not a dream fancy, it's something that some of these guys might suffer from AICS,
02:15 others suffer from... it's all different, don't be scared of it.
02:18 I'm not bothered about it and it's not going to beat me, so it shouldn't beat anybody.
02:24 People don't... all they think of is the shaking.
02:26 There's lots more to it, some hidden, some not.
02:29 People don't see and don't understand. It's understandable, if it doesn't affect you,
02:32 you don't know about it, do you?
02:34 Charlotte Bourne reporting for KMTV.