Student-Led Boxing Program for People with Parkinson Disease
Purpose: Commercial boxing-based exercise programs for people with Parkinson Disease (PwPD) have gained popularity, but are not available in all geographic areas and are costly to administer. Students of physical therapy at Husson University (HUPT) developed an innovative solution by creating a non-profit sustainable community boxing program. This presentation describes the formation of this successful non-commercial, student-led boxing program for PwPD.
Description: Students at HUPT identified a lack of structured exercise programs available to PwPD in the local area and began exploring the feasibility of initiating a boxing program for this population. After gaining support from the local PD support group, they were faced with numerous challenges: location, equipment acquisition, equipment storage, staffing, training, finances, and program continuity. Following an extensive search, they signed an agreement with a local fitness and mixed martial arts gym that provided access to its heavy bags and training mitts, and provided boxing training sessions for the student leaders and volunteers. The students organized a successful fundraiser to cover the facility rental costs and other miscellaneous expenses, which allowed the sessions to be offered free of charge for the participants. Boxing and exercise classes were taught by a small group of trained student coaches on a rotating basis, and additional student volunteers were utilized to assist the participants during the exercise sessions. Students in two courses within HUPT participated in the boxing program as an integrated clinical experience, which had the added benefit of providing a steady source of additional personnel for the boxing sessions.
Summary of Use: Twenty-nine people with PD participated in at least three sessions of the class over the course of 25 weeks, with an average of 13 people attending each session. All of those who completed end-of-class surveys expressed complete satisfaction with the program. In addition to the five student leaders who organized and coached the group, approximately 80 students participated either as volunteers or as part of a course assignment. All student coaches gained leadership skills in addition to hands-on experience designing both a community wellness program and exercise programs for a special population.
Importance to Members: This is the first documented student-initiated and student-run boxing program for PwPD, to our knowledge. The program was highly valued by the participants with PD, and it created two important community partnerships for HUPT–one with the PD support group and one with the local gym. This endeavor enhanced the leadership skills of the student organizers, and benefitted the HUPT students by providing greater exposure to a special population. In addition, the boxing-based exercise class provided an integrated clinical experience for students in two courses at HUPT. This model could be adopted by other educational programs.