Fighting back: Boxing group offers strength training, camaraderie for those with Parkinson's

Red-faced and sweaty, Jim Lurk strains to sit up and pass off the medicine ball.

"Forty-five seconds!" instructor Katie Yamnitz barks. "Come on!"

Over and over Lurk and the five other men continue their reps. Each sit-up shows the block letters on the back of Lurk's T-shirt. They say "FIGHT BACK."

The men of the Rock Steady Boxing group at Therapy Solutions in Perryville, Missouri, have all been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a disorder that affects the central nervous system.

They've been meeting twice a week for about a year to practice boxing to mitigate, and in some cases, reverse, the symptoms of the incurable disease.

Brother Tim Opferman and Kevin Petzoldt warm up as part of the Rock Steady Boxing program to battle Parkinson's disease on Thursday at Therapy Solutions in Perryville.Andrew J. Whitaker

At the end of the three-minute round, the bell dings. It's nearing 5 p.m. and they've been at it for most of the hour. Most of the session time is dedicated to various types of strength and coordination training. The men do planks, weave medicine balls through their knees and do weighted sit-ups before strapping on the gloves.

Parkinson's is a progressive disease that can cause tremors in the limbs and affect balance, so each station's exercise is designed to address a particular function and muscle group.

Gloved-up, they split again to different stations, filling the gym with boxing sounds.

In one corner there's the measured pattering of speed bags and a thump-thump-swipe nearby as physical therapist Christy Fernow holds the pads for another boxer.

At the opposite end of the gym, 62-year-old Vincentian Tim Opferman -- known as "Brother Tim" -- is throwing haymakers against a punching bag as Blue Oyster Cult plays on the radio.

After three three-minute intervals of high-intensity training, it's high-fives and stretching.

Fernow and Brother Tim collaborated to get the Rock Steady Program started in Perryville after Brother Tim heard about it from his brother in Indiana, he explained after the session.

He said treating Parkinson's with boxing training can be more heartening than medication alone.

"It gives us the idea you're doing something," he said. "But it's intense. It does get intense."

A three-minute interval can feel pretty long, he said. He lives just across the street at St. Mary's of the Barrens Seminary, but said that after the first session with Fernow, he nearly had to crawl home.

"We're not exactly spring chicks," he said.

But the camaraderie, he said, is just as beneficial as the physical training for coping with the disease. Some of the men are steadier than others, and a tremor creeps into Brother Tim's shoulder after the session.

But not when he's wailing on the bag.

"As hard as it is, it is fun," he said. "It's fun, but it feels good when it's done."

Lurk said a year's training has made a noticeable improvement in his condition.

"I can do more now than I could a year ago, put it like that," he said.

And that's something Fernow said is priceless. For individuals who have been told their condition is incurable and will only get worse from here, maintaining function used to be all they could hope for, she explained. Rock Steady Boxing gives the men something better to strive for.

And now, as they chant at the close of each session: Hope is in their corner.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573)388-3627