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The Get Healthy Tampa Bay Podcast
Bringing all things health and wellness to Tampa Bay, FL from your very own family and obesity medicine physician, Dr. Kerry Reller, MD, MS. We will discuss general medical topics, weight management, and local spots and events focusing on health, wellness, and nutrition in an interview and solo-cast format. Published weekly.
The Get Healthy Tampa Bay Podcast
E123: Parkinson’s Disease and the Power of Movement with Dr. Han Nguyen, PT, DPT, NCS
Welcome to the Get Healthy Tampa Bay Podcast with Dr. Kerry Reller! This week, I’m joined by Dr. Han Nguyen, a neurologic physical therapist and founder of Neubility Rehabilitation & Wellness. In this episode, we explore Parkinson’s disease—what it is, how it’s diagnosed, and why early intervention matters.
Dr. Nguyen explains the hallmark symptoms, shares insight into non-motor effects, and breaks down why exercise is the most powerful tool in slowing disease progression. We also discuss real-world movement strategies, community resources, and how even those in assisted living can benefit from tailored exercise plans. Tune in to learn how movement, support, and early care can make all the difference in living well with Parkinson’s.
Han Nguyen ("Hon Win") is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and a Board-Certified Specialist in Neurologic Physical Therapy. Han started her career in intensive rehab at Largo West Hospital seeing patients after acute neurological injuries. During this time, Han recognized that there was a big gap in the community between intensive rehab in the hospital and outpatient rehab once patients get discharged. Han left her full time job in 2023 and started Neubility Rehabilitation and Wellness. Neubility Rehab is a specialized physical therapy and occupational therapy practice that focus on motivated individuals with neurological injuries and disorders, such as stroke, Parkinson's, brain and spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, balance and vertigo/dizziness . Neubility Rehab is located in Pinellas Park and they've been proudly serving the Pinellas county community for the last 2 years.
0:53 – Introduction to Dr. Han Nguyen and Neubility Rehab
2:09 – What is Parkinson’s disease? Motor and non-motor symptoms
4:31 – How Parkinson’s is diagnosed: clinical signs, meds, and the DaTscan
8:36 – Who’s at risk? Gender, age, environmental factors, and new trends
10:10 – The holistic approach to managing Parkinson’s
13:24 – Deep Brain Stimulation: what it helps and who it’s for
14:40 – Why high-intensity exercise is so effective in Parkinson’s
16:00 – Building individualized therapy programs from diagnosis onward
20:36 – Yes, even patients in assisted living can benefit from movement
27:08 – Resources: Rock Steady, LSVT, PD Life, and local therapy options
Neubility Rehabilitation and Wellness
Address: 9079 Belcher Road N, Pinellas Park FL 33782
Phone: 727-616-0809
Website: www.neubilityrehab.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/neubilityrehab
Parkinson's Foundation Exercise Recommendation:
Exercise Resources:
Tampa Bay area:
PD Life (free education on different topics, free group exercise classes, social events and support groups for both people with Parkinson's & caregivers)
Neurochallenge (free education, group exercise classes virtually including lower level seated classes, support groups virtually and in person)
https://www.neurochallenge.org/
Rocksteady boxing & Tremble Clefs (singing program for people with Parkinsons)
https://thepalmsoflargo.com/parkinsons-programs/
YMCA classes
https://www.stpeteymca.org/programs/parkinson-s-disease-programs/
Not in our area but virtually:
PWR! (Parkinson's Wellness Recovery)
All right. Hi everybody. Welcome back to the Get Healthy Tampa Bay podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Kerry Reller, and today we have a returning guest, Dr. Han Nguyen. Welcome back to the podcast.
Han:Hi. Thank you for having me again.
Kerry:Yes. I'm so excited to have you back on and talk about one of the topics that is near and dear to your heart. Briefly, since you already were on, why don't you tell us a little about who you are and what you do.
Han:Yeah. My name is Dr. Han Nguyen and I'm a doctor of physical therapy. I'm also a board certified in neurologic physical therapy. And I own nobility rehabilitation and wellness. We are an outpatient physical therapy and occupational therapy clinic that specialize in those with neurological condition. So unlike your general or your typical outpatient clinic we only see people with neurologic conditions. So we see a large population of Parkinson's, stroke brain and spinal cord injury. Multiple sclerosis vestibular dizziness issues and we're the only outpatient neuro in the Pinellas County. And as you mentioned before, Parkinson's is a topic that is near to my heart. We have many, many of outpatient with Parkinson's and we get to see them for a really long time and we become very close with them. So a lot of my favorite patients are people with
Kerry:Parkinsons Yeah. Oh yeah. I love that your practice has like a niche within physical therapy and it is such a, you know, important and much needed area as well. So why don't you, for listeners who may not be familiar, what exactly is Parkinson's disease? What are some of the early signs people might notice?
Han:Yeah, so Parkinson's is a progressive neurological conditions and it's primarily affect movement. But I know that there are a lot more research that recently comes out with non-motor effects of Parkinson's disease as well. And it happens when the brain cells that produce dopamine, which is a chemical that help control movement start to break down in, in the brain. And we call it a disease of automaticity. So that means that it takes a lot more concentration for people to be able to tell their body what to do. And we use that in our treatment also by using different type of queuing in other, to bypass that automaticity that loss in the condition itself. It is a second most common neurodegenerative disease in America. And then, like I said, it's not just a motor disease. There are a lot of research that came out or coming out about the non-motor effects of Parkinson's. Also there are four key motor symptoms and they are used in the diagnosis of Parkinson's So the first one is slowness of movement or bradykinesia. Rigidity and stiffness particularly in the trunk muscle, resting tremor, and then postural instability or balance
Kerry:So you mentioned it's the second most common, did you say motor neurodegenerative disease or all neurodegenerative diseases?
Han:All of neurodegenerative disease. So the first one would be Alzheimer.
Kerry:Okay. Yeah. Okay. So there's these four key things that people, you know, might be looking out for. So I think some of those were fancy medical terms. Could you break them down a little bit?
Han:Yeah. So bradykinesia is a slowness of movement and then rigidity is stiffness. So primarily in the truncal muscles. And then posture instability is you know, any type of balance issues. And then the last one is resting tremor. So tremor that in the hands in the resting position, not like when it, the hands is being used or with movement.
Kerry:Yeah. Perfect. So, Brady Kinesia, I don't know if that's like a common term or anything like
Han:Yeah.
Kerry:that'll help. So how is Parkinson's typically diagnosed? Who's at, who's mostly at risk?
Han:So Parkinson's is usually diagnosed by a neurologist. And we always recommend people if they are already seen by a neurologist or if they expect that they have Parkinson's, that they seek out a movement disorder specialist. So. Movement disorder specialists are neurologists that have done extra training and fellowship in movement disorder and Parkinson's is a movement disorder. So they are typically a little bit more knowledgeable in managing Parkinson's and other type of movement disorders. So to diagnose Parkinson's typically there is not like a blood test or any kind of like particular scan, although we'll talk about the DT scan of and it's used in diagnosing Parkinson's. But they will look at the symptoms that we talked about, those for caral size, the slowness of movement, the posture instability. The resting tremor and then the truncal stiffness. So they usually make the diagnosis based on clinical signs and then they can rule out all the type of Parkinson plus syndromes by putting someone on the medication which is levodopa. And if the person is not responding to the medication. Then use, expect it not to be the idiopathic Parkinson's, and that will be more Parkinson's plus syndromes. And then there is a new scan that is FDA approved now called a DaTscan. So it's stand for dopamine transporter scan. And it's looking at, the dopamine transporter in the brain itself. So it's not always necessary to do a DaTscan, although a lot of the time the movement disorder specialist or the neurologist will still send people to get a DaTscan just to confirm the diagnosis of Parkinson's. But most of the time Parkinson's can be diagnosed just through clinical symptoms.
Kerry:It's so interesting because I had a patient who literally had all of those, the, the, the key features and you know i'm primary care. So I sent him to neurology and he did not get the diagnosis of Parkinson's. So they so Parkinson's Plus is what you said? So.
Han:Yeah, so there are like multiple conditions. So multiple system atrophy is one of them. Basal ganglia syndrome is one of them. They present like Parkinson's with some different clinical signs. So like in MSA or multiple system atrophy, we see a lot more like early on po postural instability. So with the idiopathic Parkinson's, we don't see a whole lot of the postural instability or the falling backward until like the later stages. But with MSA we see that a lot sooner. With cortical basal ganglia ganglionic condition, we see more like vertical eye movement disorder. So difficulty with looking up and down. So there are some like slight differences in a lot of them. But typically the neurologist will put them on medication like Sinemet and see whether they respond to the
Kerry:Mm-hmm. Surprisingly they did not do that. So what what kind of scan is the DAT scan? Is it a ct, is it MRI or is it like its own class?
Han:yeah, it's his own thing. So yeah, so the, the CT scan or the MRI wouldn't really show any changes in the brain for someone with Parkinson's. But the DAT scan, if you look at the DAT scan, it will, like the, it's looking at the item of the basal ganglia. So you would see a smaller lit up area in someone with Parkinson.
Kerry:Interesting. Yeah the basal ganglia is that key location in the brain that is affected. By Parkinson's, right?
Han:Yep.
Kerry:Yeah. So who is most at, like you, we talked about who's like, what are the risk factors I should say for getting Parkinson's? Or are there any.
Han:So there, I know that there are so many different studies that came out and like coming out on like, you know, the environmental factor that is affecting how like the, I feel like Parkinson's just getting so, relevant like now or day like before. We were seeing not that many people with Parkinson's, but it's definitely increasing. And know some of the study had linked it to use a pesticide in our environment. In there, in area where there are, a lot of farms. We also see more people with Parkinson's according to the studies. It's typically more common in men than women. Although women still get Parkinson's, their subtype is a little bit different than males with Parkinson's. And women with Parkinson's, we see a lot more non-motor symptoms versus in, males with Parkinson's. Typically people over 60 or more at risk, although young onset is also becoming very relevant nowadays. So I feel like within the last 10 years or so, like the subtype of Parkinson's had changed so much compared to, you know, your, your typical, like when we think about Parkinson's, like older people are slower. But things have changed a lot within the last 10 years, I would say. Mm-hmm.
Kerry:Yeah, and obviously there's a lot we don't know about Parkinson's and that's why the research is, you know, ongoing. Right. So as far as management you mentioned a couple medications besides that, what other, you know, managing components are there for managing Parkinson's long term?
Han:Yeah, so medication is definitely one of the key components. We always look at, managing Parkinson's from like a holistic standpoint. So of course you're seeing your primary physician and then your neurologist for the medication, and then any other like comorbidities that you have outside of the Parkinson's.'cause you also want to manage like. The diabetes, the high blood pressure, any type of other health issues that you have. And then exercise is one of the biggest, biggest thing that we promote in the management of Parkinson's, especially for slowing down the disease progression. And beside from medication. It is really the only thing in the research currently that show. Slowing down disease progressions in Parkinson not just in exercise, but high intensity exercise. So consulting a physical therapist to get started on a program like that is very important. And then we also like to talk about occupational therapy and speech therapy as well. So within occupational therapy, they will work on any type of cognitive or memory strategies as the disease progress to help with the cognitive, cognitive decline of Parkinson's and then any type of fine motor and riding issues that people will start to have. Another thing that is really interesting that didn't really occur to me until I start seeing a lot of people with Parkinson's in the clinic is the eye muscle movement. So double vision is common in Parkinson's at the disease progress also because the Parkinson's doesn't just affect like the big muscles, right? It's also affect your eye muscles so when the eye muscles are not working co correctly or converging correctly, then people start having double vision or difficulty with reading. So my occupational therapist, who is also a vision therapist, will work on those convergence exercises with people to help with the double vision. And then speech therapy of course, because voice is also a big part of Parkinson's also. So speech therapists who are certified in LSPT, Lao. Or I think there's another certification called Speak Out that can help managing or, help with the void disorder that is related to Parkinson's. And then of course they can work on those cognitive strategies as well. We also still refer people out for mental health counseling'cause depressions and anxiety is also common with that. And then any type of like nutritional counseling that they need also because. The non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's also include like the digestive system. A lot of the time they have slower gut mobility, so a lot of them have constipation issues with with any type of diet. And if they're not going to the bathroom frequently enough, then the medica, the medication doesn't work as well. So it's all, it's all in like big holistic management of Parkinson's.'cause there are just so many aspect of it.
Kerry:What about deep brain stimulation? Do they still do that regularly? Mm-hmm.
Han:So that's something that they would talk to their neurologist if they are a candidate for deep brain stimulation. Typically, I know I, I know that USF does them in our area. But Gainesville at UF is one of the more advanced center that does like multidisciplinary approach to deep brain stimulation. A lot of the time they'll come in and get an evaluation from multiple disciplines at the center. So they'll look, the neurologist will look at the patient neurosurgery speech, pt, ot and then they'll figure out if they are a candidate for it. From what we've seen, the deep brain simulation helps a lot with the tremor but not a whole lot when it comes to like gait and balance. So sometime the balance can also be affected in the short term period after the deep brain simulation as well. But the people who got deep brain simulation really, really liked it and it does make a big, big difference for them if they're the correct and appropriate candidate.
Kerry:Okay, so you were talking about exercise, so let's dive more into that. So can you explain why it's such a powerful tool in particular for Parkinson's?
Han:Yeah, so there are so many research nowadays on exercise in Parkinson's. And I think it's all going back to even just you know, like in healthy adults like exercise is so important because the body in motion stay in motions, right? And then now you're add on a neurodegenerative conditions on that, that stiffness and balance and decrease in strength is part of the condition itself. So exercise is so powerful in slowing down the disease progressions. And it even going down into like the molecular level there are study that show there are brain changes in people with Parkinson's, that exercise versus those who don't. And then another big part of exercise for for people with Parkinson's is sometime those exercise are done in a group setting. And we also know that social support is a huge part in management of Parkinson's as well. People with Parkinson's who participate in group exercise or any type of like support group also show better quality of life also.
Kerry:Are there specific exercises that you recommend for your patients?
Han:Yeah. So it's depending on what the person looks like, right? So we we always do a full evaluation and then see where the, they are on the spectrum of the disease progressions. So the ideal time for physical therapy to see people with Parkinson's is at the time of diagnose. And that's had changed so much within the last few years of management of Parkinson's.'cause a lot of the time when people get. Diagnosed with Parkinson, they are sent home with medication and then they pretty much just say, good luck take your medication and then we'll figure it out when something happened. Right. So then people start falling and then they break something and then that's when they get to send to physical therapy. And sometime by that point. It is a little late to get them back to that baseline at the time of diagnose. So we, we love to see people the second that they got the, the diagnosis, so then we can provide more education on why exercise is important. And then we get to follow, follow them through their entire disease progressions and make those appropriate referral, like occupational therapy, speech therapy, social support and things like that. So at the time of diagnose, if someone is higher level, we probably just put them on a high intensity program right away. If they have never done any type of high intensity exercise, then we'll ease them into it. And then get them to understand what it feels like to exercise on that high intensity level.'Cause a lot of the time people say that they exercise. It feels very different between low level, moderate level to high level intensity. So we put them on a higher level intensity, get them to understand this is where you need to push yourself, and then we'll see them for a short period of time and refer them to those group. Exercise for people with Parkinson's. Sometime if they're younger and higher level, we just send them to a regular like. Like some, if people like to run, if people like to do CrossFit, like we send them back to those activities and then get them to understand like, this is how, how much you need to push yourself. If anything changes, then we'll see you again. Once they're on our caseload, we see them at least every three months to six months. So we never just discharge people. So we always checked in if anything changes, we picked them back up for some type of one-on-one physical therapy training. If people are more in like that middle stage and we've never seen them again we have never seen them before. Again, we put them on some type of higher intensity exercise for their level. And then if they have never exercised before, then we'll ease them into it. And usually we looked at, for someone who is in like the moderate to later stage, we look at four different component. So aerobic training. Getting that cardiovascular endurance up. We see them for strength training balance, and then a stretching protocol. So we try to target all those four things as much as possible. And those four things are also recommended by the Parkinson Foundation Exercise recommendation. So again, we will, you know, try to get them onto an exercise routine or regimen as much as we can. If they need some type of balance training that is more one-on-one, then we work on it and then let them do the cardiovascular training or the stretching at home. So the goal of physical therapy should always be targeting things that people cannot work on by themselves at home, and giving them the tools to be able to do other things at home and then send them back into community exercise groups. So we'll always try to check in like. Every month if we can, every three months, every six months. Sometime when they're in that middle to late stage once a month checked in is what is needed. And then if anything changes if they start falling more if there are more issues with cardiovascular and or strength, then we pick them back up for multiple times a week. So it's just really depending on the person and what they present with at the time of evaluation.
Kerry:So with the high intensity, I'm picturing like people doing like jump squats and burpees and things like that, and I find it hard to believe that someone with Parkinson's would be able to do that. Is, am I totally off base or what?
Han:you'd be surprised what outpatient do in the clinic? Yeah, so. You know, it's really just depends, like if we have some like young onset Parkinson's or even like older adults who are in really good shape and yesterday I was doing burpees with one of my patient with Parkinson's that is 82 years old and he'll probably do some more burpees today when he come in later this afternoon. So, yeah, so we have harnesses on our treadmill. So we do get people to walk at a really brisk pace or even get into running as well. So if they have never done any type of high intensity training before, then we start them as a high intensity, high intensity interval training. So like 30 seconds on a minute off and kind of ease them into it. And we love jumping so. We try to get people back into some type of jumping protocol if we can.'Cause as we get older, we kind of stop doing jumping and it's so good to load our body and it's so good for our bone density and bone health. And a big part of Parkinson's that jumping is good for is also power production. And that's what is really missing in Parkinson, is that power. So we it's just tailor our program based on what people are capable of. And a lot of the time people are capable of a lot more than they, they think they, they are.
Kerry:Cool. Yeah. I mean, I think some of the foundations of what you said with the aerobic, the strength training, balance and stretching are, you know, pretty much things that people should be doing. All the time and definitely, you know, I, as much as more I learn in like the menopause space, like the jumping and everything is super important for like bone health, like you said. And one of the, my most favorite thing that you said is like a body in motion stays in motion, which is so true. It's just like the physics lessons that we learn right back in like grade school. And you gotta keep moving. Right? It's, and it's amazing what you guys are doing with the Parkinson's patients. So my, I do have a question. So let's say a patient is already in like kind of assisted living type atmosphere and maybe they're a little bit later onset. Is it too late to do anything? what would you recommend in that case?
Han:Yeah, I think it's never too late for someone to start on some type of exercise program. Of course it's really good if we can get to see them at the beginning, but even in someone who is in the later stage its still good to introduce movement into their routine. It might not get them back to where they were, but exercise also has so many other non-motor effects also. So it helps with sleep, it helps with mood. A lot of the time when I was doing mobile and I was going into people who are home bound and all we could do were just like. Doing some sit to stand or walk a couple of steps, but people always feel better when I leave versus when I come in, right? Because we talk about how Parkinson's is a condition that started with loss of dopamine. Exercise helps produce dopamine naturally. So people always feels better. It helps so much with their mood, their depression. It helps with gut mobility'cause a lot of the time if people are home bound or wheelchair bound, they sit the majority of the day. So even just get them in a vertical position, help with any type of weight bearing the bone density, it helped their gut moves better so that they can digest their food better. Help with constipation. So there are just so many great effective exercise that even if they're in assisted living or a skilled nursing facility it will still be very helpful.
Kerry:Wow, it's amazing. So you are, you've been talking about the non-motor symptoms and one is, slow transit, constipation Can you just mention a couple other ones?
Han:Yeah. So fatigue is another big one. Cognition is another big one as well. Mood, so depressions, anxiety and then bone health and bone density. Those are probably the, the big ones that we see.
Kerry:Yeah, and you already, you know, said that all of those things can be improved with exercise For sure.
Han:Yeah.
Kerry:So even if they're like an assisted living or skilled nursing, they can at least start with what low intensity and then move on from there. So what, how would that look different than, you know, the higher intensity?
Han:So it's really just depending on like whether they have someone to help them with those exercises or not. If they are by themself, I always recommend starting with like a chair, yoga, a routine or any type of like chair exercises. There are great videos on seated yoga and seated boxing classes that people can do. So there are a lot of movement that can be done safely in a seated position or even in a supine or laying on the bed position as well. And then any type of like sit to stand if they can do that independently and safely. If they have people helping at the facility, then of course they can get into the standing position with a walker or a chair in the front, and then someone guarding them and then doing the same similar movement as like boxing or stepping size, stepping. So any type of movement is going to be helpful then no movement at all.
Kerry:I really like how you traced back also to the, the problem at hand with Parkinson's about the dopamine because, like you said, dopamine is, you know, makes you feel better. So doing exercise does produce it. So I think that is super important and no wonder it helps so much with Parkinson's patients. any more comments on the exercise? Did we miss anything? Because I, I think I get an understanding of how important it is.
Han:Yeah. I will send you the Parkinson's Foundation recommendation for the show note. So on there, they have a really nice, nice graphic of like how many times a week that you should be doing aerobic cardiovascular training, how many times a week you should do your balance or flexibility. But the general recommendation, and this is based on even in healthy adults, is at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity to high intensity exercise. And that's not just for Parkinson that is based on just general healthy adult, young adult older adult in
Kerry:Yeah, I think it's the exercise guidelines for Americans or, yeah. Do you where do those videos live? You mentioned chair yoga, seated boxing. Do they YouTube or
Han:Yeah, so YouTube is a good one to start. There's other resources in the area too that people can tune in. So Neuro Challenge is an organization that based down in Sarasota, and they do have a lot of online classes. And some of them are seated. There is a, and I'm sure you've heard of LSVT. For Parkinson's, so LSVT is one of the more popular branded therapy for people with Parkinson. And how it was explained to me is that when, like back in the day when they were trying to figure out like how to manage people with Parkinson's. They need to figure out a protocol for exercise for people with Parkinson's and LSVT the foundation concept of it is big amplitude movement.'Cause the problem with Parkinson's is a movement gets smaller, so we need to exaggerate the movement into big amplitude movement. So it's a protocol of these moves that people do it every single day for four weeks. And they have to follow the exact same protocol. It was created by, Dr. Becky Farley, who is a doctor of physical therapy when she was working at the university, and I can't remember what the university's name is but when she left the university, she created a new program called power BWR exclamation point. So it is a newer version of LSVT, but it's not a protocol. So one of the problem with LSVT is you have to do the exact same thing every day for four weeks. And if I workout the same exact way every single day for four weeks, I would get really, really bored. So you see improvement in people, but a lot of the time we like to use LSVT or power as some type of like warmup. We don't like to use it as the main core of our Parkinson's exercise program. Because we want things to be functional and we want things to be fun. So doing the same thing every day, not going to be fun. But power has a program online that people can do also. So it's PWR exclamation point. So there's a library that people can access and they can go through like the power moves and the power moves are done laying on your back, laying on your stomach hands and knees, seated and standing. So there are five position that you go through, four different moves and each of the moves target different things that are affected by Parkinson's. So I can send the link for these resources also. If people are higher level, I would highly recommend looking into the YMCA programs. They have a lot of program for Parkinson's, like boot camp or pedaling for Parkinson's, so spin class. And then a really great organization in the Tampa Bay area is PD Life. Their website is Parkinson's live dot. And it's a nonprofit organization that was created by Meredith DiFranco. So she's also a doctor for physical therapy. A really dear friend of mine she used to work at UF in the Parkinson's clinic, and when she moved to the Tampa Bay area, she recognized that there's not really a whole lot of support for people with Parkinson's in our area. So she started the nonprofit organization I believe, I can't remember exactly, but maybe three, three years ago. Or maybe more than that actually. But they provide free exercise classes at different type of gyms in the area. So they have a really, really high intensity like bootcamp class that is based in a CrossFit gym which is super awesome. And then they have like other. Like moderate to low, lower intensity classes as well. And they also provide free education for people with Parkinson. They do support groups and they do a lot of like fun social events for people also. So it's a very active nonprofit in our area and we're, we're very lucky to have them.
Kerry:Wow. That sounds like a great resource for sure. Are there any, I mean, you've listed a bunch of things. One dumb question, what does LSVT stand for?
Han:I honestly don't
Kerry:know.
Han:So it started as LSVT Laos, which is the speech program, and then they see good result with the Speech program with LSVT lao and then they started doing similar thing to movements and they call it LSVT big, but I don't remember what LSVT
Kerry:Okay. Okay. I guess we just take it for what it is. Very cool. So if someone's newly diagnosed and listening today, where should they start? What kind of exercise should they start with?
Han:So I would say the biggest thing to start is making sure that they are being seen by a movement disorder specialist so that they can optimize the medication. I know that medication has changed so much since the beginning of Parkinson's, not everyone is on Sinemet anymore. There are so many other different type of, of Parkinson medication now or day. So optimizing medication is the number one because we like to see them when the medication is working optimally so that we can challenge them and push them and then get an evaluation by a Neurophysical therapist to make sure that they can start the program safely. And look into those resources that I provided so that they can find a group exercise program that is, is for their condition. Another thing that I didn't mention for the resources is Rock Steady Boxing. So.
Kerry:Rock steady boxing. Okay.
Han:So that's another good one too. I'll send you a list and then you can put it in the show note. But yeah, so Rock Steady Boxing is also another branded exercise program for people with Parkinson's. And it, depending on like which affiliate you go to, but it it's stations. So typically it's like a boxing move and then they'll do some type of strength training and they go around the room. So it's also a great, great program here in the area. The closest Rock Steady boxing is at Cyprus Palm at the palms of Largo in, in Largo. And Leah is the coach there, and she was actually Rock Steady Boxing coach of the year last year.
Kerry:Cool.
Han:So they have a high level class that run Monday, Wednesday, Friday. They just started a moderate level class on Monday and Thursday, and then a low level, which is all chair, so it's boxing in the senior position. So that's also a great program to look into also. But again, like starting sooner. Is better and getting some type of evaluation, bio neural, physical therapist so that they can start exercise safely and then know how much to push themselves. I think that will be a great way to start. So.
Kerry:Yeah. You mentioned boxing like several times. Is there a specific reason boxing is so highly recommended?
Han:I'm not sure it's, there has to be a story of some sort, but I know that if you go on Rock Steady Boxing's page, there's a whole story of like how it got started but. If you think about the movement itself, boxing is so great for people with Parkinson's because it's emphasizing that large amplitude movement, right? You're exaggerating your movement when you're boxing. And it's also so great for for cardiovascular endurance. And then there's a big component with coordination too, with boxing.
Kerry:Mm-hmm.
Han:so I think just. You know, it's great just from like thinking about the foundation movements of part of boxing, of how, how great it is for people with Parkinson's.
Kerry:Yeah, you have shared a giant wealth of knowledge, not just of Parkinson's itself, but also all of the resources in our area, which is so helpful and amazing and I, yeah, we'll definitely have to include what you send over in the show notes so they can get that. That's amazing. Do you have anything else you'd like to add today?
Han:I don't think so. I think the biggest thing is if you're not exercising, then start exercising.
Kerry:Yeah. And where can people find you again?
Han:neubilityrehab.com. N-E-U-B-I-L-I-T-Y-R-E-H-A b.com.
Kerry:And where in Pinellas is your office again?
Han:It's Pinellas Park.
Kerry:Pinellas Park. Okay.
Han:Belcher right across the street from the Bayou Club.
Kerry:Awesome. All right, well, thank you so much for coming back on the podcast today. I certainly learned a ton, so I'm sure our listeners did it as well. And everybody tune in next week for next week's episode, and we hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.
Han:Thank you for having me.
Kerry:All right.
