Q&A with Janet Hamburg: She’s been making all the right moves

By JAMES A. FUSSELL

Janet Hamburg has a lot of titles.

She’s a professor of dance at the University of Kansas, a registered somatic movement therapist, a certified Laban movement analyst, director of senior wellness and exercise for the Center for Movement Education and Research in Los Angeles and a senior research associate for the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York. (Whew!)

But there’s nothing she’s more proud of than “Motivating Moves for People With Parkinson’s,” an exercise program she created to help patients deal with movement challenges. Recently she presented her research in Chicago at an international gathering of doctors, researchers and others who deal with Parkinson’s and other movement disorders. We asked her to tell us about her work.

Q. How long have you been teaching dance at KU?

A. 29 years.

What else do you do?

I’ve worked with professional and collegiate athletes and (former) NBA basketball player Albert King. I created a warm-up program for the KU men’s basketball team. I’ve also worked with musicians at the Juilliard School in New York City.

Tell us about “Motivating Moves.”

Parkinson’s disrupts the rhythm, timing and phrasing of natural coordinated movements. I designed exercises that incorporate a variety of movement and vocal dynamics to enliven people as they strengthen and stretch their muscles.

Can you describe it?

It’s a seated exercise program that takes about a half-hour. There are 24 short exercises (including) an exercise called the Big Ha! where people are shrugging their shoulders to their ears, then dropping their shoulders with a loud “Ha!” sound. Another exercise is Swivel and Slouch, which begins by swiveling the feet and legs from one side to another, and ends with allowing the torso to collapse into a twisting slouch. This prepares the body for twisting and spiraling movements that are helpful in getting out of bed. I end with silly faces and moods. Some people with Parkinson’s have difficulty speaking, swallowing and moving their faces expressively. Silly faces and moods includes a variety of exercises for the facial muscles, mouth and throat. It even includes laughing, so everybody is laughing at one point.

Do you use music?

Yes. The music supports the rhythm and dynamics of the movements while cueing and encouraging the participant to move. It was composed specifically for each exercise by the late Robert Abramson, an internationally recognized master teacher of Dalcroze Eurhythmics on the faculty of the Juilliard School.

Dalcroze … what?

It’s a method of teaching musical concepts through movement.

Of course. We were just testing you. So what do you hope your program will do for patients?

Allow people who have been robbed of their unique sense of rhythm and timing and movement dynamics in their everyday actions to feel pleasure in moving again. One thing people have told me over and over is the program is enjoyable. It’s not just like another prescription they have to take.

Do they also say it works?

One woman wrote to me and said: “Before doing Motivating Moves I was unable to dress myself. I can do everything for myself now.”

Must make them feel great.

It does. I recently completed a research study on the effects of (the program). There were statistically significant improvements in how quickly the participants could get up from a chair and walk a short distance, how much they could twist their torsos, and there were improvements in their activities of daily living.

Other success stories?

There was a woman in Kansas City who told her children that she would not be traveling anymore because of her Parkinson’s, so if they wanted to see her they’d have to visit her. After she (used the program) she made airline reservations to visit her children for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. She was just thrilled.

Why did you develop this?

My mother, Helen Hamburg, developed Parkinson’s. As I watched her movement challenges, I developed exercises to help her move more easily. Unfortunately she died before she could see the DVD. But it was done in her honor.