"Before, I didn't even watch boxing matches on TV, now I box twice a week". Marco has had Parkinson's for 15 years but now has new hope. Hope passes through the ring, or rather not a ring, but a gym in Florence where he trains with gloves, sacks and fists. Boxing training to combat the symptoms of Parkinson's. This is the innovative strategy put in place by the 'Un gancio al Parkinson' association to limit the damage of a degenerative disease. A disease that progressively stiffens the muscles, making movement and speech difficult and that, in recent years, has also affected celebrities such as Pope John Paul II and the former heavyweight champion, Muhammed Ali.
But it is precisely from the world of boxing that a valuable aid arrives today, useful for slowing down the course of the disease. 'Boxing,' says Dr Maurizio Bertoni, president of the association and director of the Training Lab centre, 'as well as being one of the oldest sports in the world, it is also one of the most complete because it develops coordination of movements, balance, reflexes and muscle elasticity. Training these qualities, which are lost during neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's, significantly improves patients' quality of life, even in advanced stages of the disease'.
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