Instructors - Maria Lewis and Sally Tawhai 

Maria Lewis & Sally Tawhai are chartered physiotherapists based in the UK. They are co-founders of Reach Your Peak. Reach Your Peak empowers people with Parkinson’s to use exercise to live well with Parkinson’s. They do this through education, exercise prescription and coaching. 

Aim of course

 To give movement professionals a basic understanding of Parkinson’s disease, exercise prescription/dose and the confidence to exercise a person with Parkinson’s and adapt their exercise/classes to be more Parkinson Specific.

 Basic neurophysiology             

What happens in the brain with Parkinson’s

Main symptoms and how they impact on exercise.

The effects of exercise on the brain

 Exercise prescription - Dose

Elements – How to make exercise Parkinson Specific

• Power, Accuracy, Amplitude
• Energetic Demand
• Mindful movement

Baseline Assessment & tracking

Practical Considerations          

How the person presents (fluctuation in symptoms,  

mask face, initial rigidity)

-Medication

-Cueing

- Difficulty dual tasking

-Festination/Freezing of Gait

-Anxiety exacerbates motor symptoms

This will be a mainly practical workshop.