Quotidiano.net: 'A pilot project in Florence. Balance, stability, coordination, hand-eye reactivity: positive results already in three months'.
It may seem a paradox. Yet a 'male' sport like boxing can limit the damage caused by a devious and disabling degenerative disease, which something like 230,000 people in Italy have to deal with: Parkinson's. A growing disease, which over the years has affected famous people such as Pope John Paul II and the former heavyweight champion, Muhammad Ali. "Today we have one more ally to counteract the effects of the disease responsible for symptoms ranging from progressive muscle stiffening to loss of balance and tremors: boxing training," explains Maurizio Bertoni, orthopaedist, Florentine and president of the association Un gancio al Parkinson (www.ungancioalparkinson.org), which operates within the Florence Training Lab.
Doctor, bag and gloves in a rehabilitation centre?
"Exactly, taking an example from a gym in New York, where this synergy has been used for some time, we decided to open the first Italian medical centre where boxing against Parkinson's is practised. This is why, in November 2018, our Association was born, which relies on the generosity of private entrepreneurs."
What does the training of your special 'boxers' consist of?
"Warm-up exercises, hitting the bag, jumping rope. The patients (now about 30, men and women aged between 50 and 75) are followed free of charge, twice a week by instructors with a degree in motor science and a boxing instructor's diploma".
A strange combination...
"Boxing is one of the most complete sports, capable of developing coordination of movements, balance, reflexes, and elasticity of muscles. Training these qualities, which are lost during neurodegenerative diseases, improves the quality of life of patients, even in advanced stages of the disease'.
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