Park for Parkinson’s

Perry Lakes

 My mother has Late Onset Parkinson’s Disease. She is 85.

Some times when I visit her she is struggling a bit to move around her apartment. Every Sunday morning we go for a walk in the park. We drive down to nearby park lands called Perry Lakes. This is large beautiful area with lots of trees and several lake areas situated right next to Bold Park (an A class reserve).

The air in Perry Lakes is always fresh and the bird life plentiful.

And there are outdoor exercise machines here too!

We take our time as we walk through the trees towards the several outdoor exercise gym machines. On those days we are nearly always overtaken by other people!

Two exercise machines are particularly good for mum.

This first  one is the cross trainer walker machine and is a little like a ski walking machine.

It helps her coordinate her arm and leg movements and helps her to  make large strides.

 

 

 

The second is an ab-hip swinger.

Mum often comments that she can feel this one loosening up her hips.

She finds them both easy to do and I can see how much more she is loosening up as she exercises on each machine.

The results of taking these exercises in the park are always apparent afterwards. When we return to the apartment her ability to move around the apartment has greatly improved.  We often remark that it is not just the exercises but also the fresh air and the natural surrounding that re- invigorate her.  It is noticeable to us that the effects are  better than those when she  exercise indoors.

For mum, the walks are easily worth 1000 or more  Frequent Bio Points (this is subjective of course)! It may not cure her but it at least helps improves her condition.

White Cockatoos recorded at Perry Lakes

Thank you to the Rotary Club and the  Town of Cambridge for supplying and maintaining this resource.