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Winter sports and Parkinson’s
I can tell that exercise is an important aspect of a lot of our members’ lives – some exercise because they love it and were active pre-diagnosis, others exercise because it helps manage their PD symptoms, and for some, it’s both! Is anyone looking forward to partaking in any winter sports this season, like skiing, snow shoeing or skating? Has PD affected your ability to participate in winter sports at all?
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12 Replies
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I do love exercising, but not so much winter sports! Part of the problem is that as soon as I shiver – BOOM- it’s like my tremor has been shaken awake and I can’t get it to calm down. And then all the concerned people saying “you must be frozen” because they think I am simply shivering a lot, kind of wears me out a bit too.
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Dang, that must be so annoying, Christine! I hope you have some nice warm thermals and wooly socks (and indoor plans) to tide you over until the warm weather returns. Thanks for sharing!
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I focus on snow shoeing and x-country skiing. Both involve poling and high heart rate, all good stuff. I’ve basically hung up my downhill skis. I find it difficult to initiate turns quickly enough.
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I haven’t tried snow shoeing or x-country skiing yet but they’re both on my to do list for this winter! My younger brother attended university in northern Ontario where he studied physical education and I think those were two of his favourite ‘units of study’! He’s always raving about how much fun snow shoeing is. VERY Canadian! 🙂
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Hi Christine I was just speaking with several of my friends who have pd. We all hate the cold and once we get a chill, there is no stopping the shivering. Luckily I don’t have external tremors but my internal tremors don’t stop once I am cold
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Jeffrey
i have always preferred cross country skiing more so than downhill, much better workout. 😉
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I have snow skied my entire life and have loved it! I have found that since my diagnosis in 2012 that my left leg simply will not lift enough to cut through the powder on my turns, making it well…difficult and frustrating…especially when I am trying to “show off” to my 10 year old son how “good” of a skier momma is..LOL He can’t envision it!! These things I miss the most is making “active & normal” memories with my sons, at least I have three older sons that DO remember that mom can actually snow ski and pretty good at that. 😉
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Aww, sounds like you have made a lot of fun winter memories with your sons, Lisa! Are there any other winter sports you might take up now to replace downhill skiing?
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I can relate Jean and Christine. I have exceptional heat tolerance but zero cold tolerance and get chilled to the bones so easily. I shiver violently once I get chilled and it’s very hard to stop. The internal tremor gets turned up to 11. New England is probably not the smartest place for me to live given my cold intolerance. I make sure I am way overdressed for my kids’ baseball games in the spring and soccer games in the fall. That’s me in the heavy down jacket with merino wool sublayers on a 50 degree cloudy day.
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mike, sometimes i wonder why i settled in NY, winters much like new england. my hands and feet are in a permanent state of cold from november to april lol.
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Hi Jean-
I believe you have indicated in the past that, like me, you are more impacted by PD on one side. Do you find that your more affected hand is usually colder than your less affected hand? My Parkinson’s symptoms are limited to my dominant side and my dominant hand is always much colder than my “good side”. That makes sense to me given rigidity and bradykinesia and I’ll bring it up with my MDS but I thought I’d ask if others have the same experience.
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mike, i hadnt noticed a difference in temperature of my hands, but i do get more tingling in my left foot than right foot (left is PD affected). i will pay more attention to this.
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