Health Issues Blog: Parkinson's and Importance of Be Trials

I did it again....and yet I am still nervous but getting better about posting.

This week I decided to explore something very near and dear to my heart, Parkinson's Disease.  Three times a week I am fortunate enough to lead a class "Dance for Life" which is a hour and fifteen minute dance class.  The class is for people living with Parkinson's Disease and their caregivers, I started working with this program three years ago and my life hasn't been the same sense.  The relationships I have created are unforgettable.

During my undergraduate work I volunteered with the program, and this June I was honored to be offered the position as Dancer in Residence with UF Health Center for Arts in Medicine.  I have had such a journey leading this class, I don't like to say teaching because truthfully they are the teachers and I am the student many times, but it is a collective journey together.

Part of this class I lead is a Case Study ongoing, while my involvement with this is not large, I found as I was reading through some blogs the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Disease website and from there the blog.  It is so great, this week I commented on a blog post about the importance of participating in Clinical Trials, which I find so important, not just because I am indirectly part of one, but also because of the people I work with. These people are so willing to try and explore anything that may help them with this disease.

After reading the blog I did some more research on the benefits of Clinical Trials for people with Parkinson's and came across this very interesting paper titled "Power of the mind The effect of placebo on primary dysmenorrhoea" by Naomi Lagerweij and Nienke Schalij, at first I was wondering what this paper had to do about people with Parkinson's but after reading it found some very interesting points, one of my favorites was:

"Parkinson's disease offers an interesting model to understand the relationship between expectations and neuronal systems. "

I hadn't even thought about anything in regards to that, this is just showing more and more how importance participation in Clinical Trials are, I am excited to add this blog to my list (which is getting quite long) and hoping for a response so that I can engage more in conversation about this. I also can't wait to share this site with my dancers, and see if they have been using it?

Below is a short video with Michael J Fox discussing his journey and how his name can help find a cure: 

Here is a link to the blog I responded to:

https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundation/news-detail.php?clinical-trial-participation-is-easier-than-you-think-says-one-volunteer



Reference:

Lagerweij, N., & Schalij, N. Power of the mind. (2012)

http://www.knawonderwijsprijs.nl/upload/werkstukken/2012_NG_Power%20of%20the%20Mind.pdf