Researcher on a charity bike ride in IA discovers: Cycling benefits Parkinson's patients - Medical News Today

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Cycling on stationary bikes may benefit people with Parkinson's disease, especially if they cycle hard and fast. This was the finding of a new study presented this week at a scientific meeting in the US, that describes how researchers found cycling, especially at rates above what patients would choose for themselves, appeared to make regions of the brain that deal with movement connect to each other more effectively. . . .

Idea for the Study Started on a Charity Ride Study investigator Jay L. Alberts, a neuroscientist at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, first got the notion that exercise might be beneficial for Parkinson's patients during a 2003 charity cycle ride across Iowa, to raise awareness of Parkinson's disease. During that event he rode a tandem with a female Parkinson's patient, whose symptoms improved after the ride.

In a statement, in which he describes the finding as "serendipitous", Alberts recalls:

"I was pedaling faster than her, which forced her to pedal faster. She had improvements in her upper extremity function, so we started to look at the possible mechanism behind this improved function."

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Researcher on a charity bike ride in IA discovers: Cycling benefits Parkinson's patients - Medical News Today