(31/3/2022)

Parkinson, Athlete, Engineering.

Can these 3 terms apparently so distant from each other find a point of connection?

With this text we want to give our answer to this question, deepening and expanding the concept of Parkinsonian Athlete by providing a new definition: that of Engineered Parkinsonian Athlete.
First, however, let's take a few steps back.

The term athlete is clearly in common use: but who is, exactly, an "athlete"? What comes to mind when we think of an athlete?

Most likely we will think of a famous footballer, a cyclist, a basketball player or perhaps the holder of the speed record in the 100 meter or the Olympic swimming champions.
More in general, when thinking about an athlete it is natural and almost obvious the connection with a sport discipline.
In reality, this concept is only half true, because it is limited to the definition of a professional athlete, that is, a person who makes sport his or her job.
In a more general sense, then, what does "athlete" mean?
An athlete is a person engaged "assiduously" or with competitive intent in sports activities.

Therefore:

Who can be an athlete?

Anyone can be an athlete.

Why?

Simplly because, based on the definition just given, to be an athlete is sufficient to have a body and a mental predisposition towards constancy and repetition of training.
Regarding the repetition of a movement and the constancy of training, there will always be different training strategies to optimize what the athlete needs to achieve their goal. This is true whether we need to compete in a specialty at a competitive level or any other situation that involves a movement, i.e., "a voluntary action performed to accomplish a goal."
So, if we were to consider as a "specialty" some simple daily activities that require the execution of certain body movements (taking a shower, setting the table, moving a desk...), we can ask ourselves:

Do athletes from different disciplines follow specific training programs that are different and customized according to the type of specialty?

Definitely.

And finally:

What lets us know what type of specialty we are most predisposed for?

Simple: our physical characteristics.

Exactly as a very tall person with good elevation capacity can be directed to devote himself to Basketball with interesting results, or an individual with a low center of gravity, short upper limbs and an important development of shoulders and pecs will be invited to devote himself to Boxing expressing remarkable performance on short distance combat.
Similarly, according to some physical characteristics of the athlete, it will be possible to set up a training to improve or strengthen certain aspects in particular (for example: the tendency to bend forward can be countered through specific postural exercises).
Let us now make a consideration: 

A person with Parkinson's disease has certain physical characteristics.

This is inevitable: the disease itself involves the appearance and progression, more or less rapid and evident, of a series of symptoms and some changes that lead in turn to certain physical characteristics.
Symptoms such as muscular rigidity, hypertonia of muscles and blood vessels, bradykinesia, camptocormia, Pisa Syndrome or tremor in one or more limbs (even at rest) are some of the most common among those concerning the sphere of movement and however they are not necessarily all present in 100% of cases: for example there are Parkinsonian patients who do not suffer from tremor.
In addition to these symptoms, given that statistically Parkinson's is a disease that affects more frequently people around 58-60 years, we can keep in mind that in many cases there are also those physiological changes brought about by advancing age.

Our approach, which, we would like to say, intends to provide a new "vision" based on studies and experiences of many years in order to improve, without overriding or replacing any type of drug therapy, provides not only to consider the symptoms and sensations that are present in 100% of cases, but also - as it should be - the characteristics of each individual.
As many Doctors say, "Medicine is not an exact Science" and this is also true for the Theory and Practice of Physical Training; in fact, if there were a "recipe" to transform anyone into a champion there would be no more problems nor competitions, but only an army of "robots" all identical to each other that would always express the same performance. 

Let's get to the Parkinsonian Athlete.

For a person with this disease it is difficult to think of himself or herself as he or she did before the diagnosis; almost as if the discovery of having Parkinson's disease automatically "took away" something not only from one's body and its control, but also from one's awareness, security, essence. In other words: from the person himself or herself, from he or she who was previously.
Even more complicated is convincing a person with Parkinson's disease to believe in himself or herself, just as an Athlete believes in his or her own abilities.

Can a person with Parkinson's be an athlete?

Can he or she "train" and improve their performance as an athlete?

With whom, exactly, does a person with this disease compete?

Also:

can the quality of life improve through movement and physical activity, even many years after diagnosis, even though we are talking about a neurodegenerative disease that, inevitably, progresses over time?

We answer yes to the first 2 questions and to the last, adding that the person with Parkinson's disease competes with himself and with his condition.
Let's extend the point made above:

Parkinson's disease generates, in the body of the sufferer, a biomechanics defined by symptoms.

If, as we said at the beginning, a person with Parkinson's has certain physical characteristics, there will undoubtedly be training strategies that are more functional and effective than others not only to counteract the symptoms, but also to achieve precise results by expressing certain performances.
For example: if a Parkinsonian has, among other things, a pronounced camptocormia due to the disease, it can certainly be set up a personalized work to mitigate - in order to solve - this unpleasant situation through targeted and constant exercises. 

The approach is the following: I have certain physical characteristics and I want to achieve a certain result (such as being able to perform a fluid walk or have the ability to "keep my shoulders open and my neck relaxed"). I will then set up a specific workout based on the outcome(s) I set for myself.
This is exactly how (for example) a Basketball player with the role of shooting guard intends to improve his elevation in jumping through specific exercises.

A "Parkinsonian Athlete", through training, intends on the one hand to improve his physical condition and on the other hand to counteract the progression of those symptoms that affect so negatively his life and his family and social relationships: it is clear, at this point, that all this must be done in an "engineered" way in order to optimize the results by calibrating on the specific case.

This is how we intend to introduce the concept of Engineered Parkinsonian Athlete.

Current scientific knowledge and man's constant desire to break down his limits have certainly evolved the applications of Rational Movement Science and Technique.
Each small great achievement in athletic-sport is often the result not only of a huge number of training, but also of countless attempts, studies and research, even failures.
Nowadays it can happen frequently to hear about "Engineered Athletes", simply because Engineering, often defined as the "Science of Solutions", has always contributed to evolve every kind of sector, including everything related to movement and physical training and their optimization. A professional athlete has at his disposal a whole staff of people who constantly analyze his performance and, in order to optimize his results during training and competition, make use of a large number of mathematical and technological tools derived from the Bioengineering of Sport and Rehabilitation and that are combined with the knowledge of Biomechanics, Biology, Biochemistry, Motor Sciences and Sports Medicine.

But being an Engineered Athlete means more than this: it means applying technical knowledge, broadening one's horizon, using one's brain and availing oneself of the right methodologies and technologies to maximize one's results, even in the performance of everyday life.

Engineered Athletes put full awareness in what they do when they train and, based on repeated and reproducible scientific evidence, they treasure the fruit of the evolutions linked to a deep knowledge of the subjects that are linked to the activities they dedicate themselves to.
If one enters the order of ideas of being an Athlete (because each of us can be one), just a little more effort is needed to follow the knowledge, reflect and "to engineer one's own training", always on the basis of one's own specific biomechanics and following the wise advice of adequately prepared "coaches" who help us along the road to our physical and mental improvement.
It should not be forgotten that, regardless of age, you can always set a functional training calibrated on the individual case. This also starting from their own abilities and possibilities, keeping in mind that everyone can always improve and improve himself or herself. In fact, there is no age at which our body stops responding positively to a training stimulus.

We have deepened all these concepts in our technical-scientific essay published in February 2021. Our book is titled "The Parkinsonian Athlete" and deals with an innovative approach to Parkinson's disease, as well as describing in detail a multitude of possible solutions including the Angel's Wings method invented, developed and patented by us. We believe that it can be extremely useful as it is mainly addressed to those directly concerned, patients and family members (caregivers), as well as experts in the field open to new visions of approach to this disease.

In our opinion, providing simple keys to understanding and solutions to solve at least some of the problems that this disease involves, especially in a historical period like this, could be a very important thing even at the social level.
It is indisputable: a clear, simple and logical explanation of one of our problems, no matter how overwhelming or invalidating, automatically helps us to see it from another perspective, resizing it and making us perceive it as "smaller" and "solvable" than it seemed at the beginning.

We believe this applies to our worries, to our small-large physical problems and even to the symptoms brought on by a disease like Parkinson's.