PBS' "Frontline" series aired tonight an amazing episode about Parkinson's disease called "My Father, My Brother and Me."
It was produced and narrated by journalist Dave Iverson, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2004 -- and is now the third person in his immediate family with it.
So Iverson set out to try to understand the disease, talking with other Parkinson's sufferers as well as leading researchers in the field. Actor Michael J. Fox, a man who has seen remarkable improvement after an experimental surgery and political journalist Michael Kinsley all spoke candidly about their experiences.
What Iverson also learned: Exercise may play a pivotal role in reducing or delaying the effects of the disease.
Iverson went to the University of Pittsburgh, where researchers were using monkeys to study the relationship between exercise and Parkinsons. In a study, one group of monkeys were made to walk on treadmills regularly; another sedentary group sat and watched. After 3 months, both groups were given MPTP, a drug that causes Parkinson's symptoms. The sedentary monkeys lost motor control. But the treadmill monkeys showed few, if any, Parkinson's symptoms.
Says one leading researcher [to "Frontline"]: "It's not at all hard for me to imagine that the results of a properly designed exercise program are going to be more effective than many of the medications and surgeries we have now."
Clearly, Parkinson's is complicated and has many causes, and exercise will not be effective for all forms or even for all people. But the research shows exercise may play a role in treatment of this -- for now -- incurable disease.
* Read a Parkinson's fact sheet at PBS.org here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/parkinsons/etc/faqs.html
* And see the entire "Frontline" episode "My Father, My Brother and Me" here, with chapters, at PBS.org: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=frol02p6c7&continuous=1
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