Reels keep Parkinson’s patients mobile

THE Clare reel is proving beneficial in the treatment of Parkinson’s patients, according to an Italian neurologist. His findings will be presented at an international health conference during this year’s Feakle Festival.
Dr Daniele Volpe, director of neurological rehabilitation at St Raffaele Arcangelo Hospital in Venice, is a regular attendee of the international music festival in Feakle and arising from an experience there in 2010, he launched a study into the potential benefits of set dancing for Parkinson’s sufferers.
Speaking to The Clare Champion, Dr Volpe explained how the research came about and how the reel step, with origins in Clare, is proving more beneficial to patients than any other set dance.
“It all started in June 2010. I usually attend Irish music festivals in Ireland and one of my preferred festivals is the Feakle Irish Music Festival, where I love to play guitar in music sessions. One night I was playing in Pepper’s Bar and a man with Parkinson’s started to dance so fluent and good.
“I asked my friend about Irish set dance steps, so I decided to start a pilot research study involving 24 patients in Venice in collaboration with Professor Timothy Lynch, neurologist at the Mater University Hospital, Dublin.
“The results were very consistent so I presented the project during the International Congress of PD (Parkinson’s disease) in Dublin, where my patients gave one demonstration in front of an audience of thousands of international neurologists. The success was so great that I was cited by your Prime Minister during the opening ceremony,” he said.
The collaborative study with Prof Meg Morris of Melbourne, Australia; Dr Amanda Clifford, lecturer at University of Limerick (UL) and Joanne Shanahan, MSc research student and dance teacher, also at UL, is an international randomised control trial involving a large number of Parkinson’s patients. The findings will be disclosed at the health conference in Feakle in August.
“Colleagues in Limerick replied to my pilot study to test the feasibility of Irish dance in the Irish Parkinson’s population. There is one step, the reel step, that works better in Parkinson’s because it helps to advance the lower limb during the swing phase where it was demonstrated Parkinson’s patients have problems. Also, the rhythm of Irish music is powerful,” he said, as it helps with the disruption between the supplementary motor area (SMA) and basal ganglia in Parkinson’s patients.
“There are other explanations that I will present at the Feakle conference in collaboration with my excellent colleagues,” he said.
The international health conference, which will delve into this study and its benefits for Parkinson’s patients, has been organised on the back of a chance encounter in Venice between Dr Volpe and former mayor Councillor Pat Hayes.
Councillor Hayes attended an Irish festival in Bondeno, Italy last year and met Dr Volpe at the small village hotel he was staying in, after striking up a conversation over breakfast.
After making their introductions, Councillor Hayes, whose late father, musician P Joe Hayes was a PD sufferer, remembered Dr Volpe spoke at the International Congress of PD.
“He started to tell me how he would love to bring it back to where it all started from. He proceeded to tell me that he was in Feakle in 2010 and was playing music here when a man walked in with a walking stick and he was shaking with Parkinson’s. Dr Volpe has been dealing with Parkinson’s patients all his life and couldn’t understand how this guy dropped down the stick and was dancing a set. It was particularly the reel set, which is a Clare set. I suppose what was most interesting for me was I had to go to Italy to meet him,” he said.
Speaking to The Clare Champion in Pepper’s pub in Feakle in front of a memorial to his father was particularly poignant for Councillor Hayes, as this was where Dr Volpe made his discovery.
“Where I’m sitting now has a huge significance because my father died with Parkinson’s. He played music up until six months before he died and we believe the music kept him from getting that bad because music is supposed to be excellent for your brain.
“This conference is a personal thing for me and it has come full circle. Not alone is it bringing Parkinson’s to the fore but it will hopefully make a change for patients and people right around the country,” he concluded.
The conference has been organised by a separate committee led by Breda Collins and made up of Dr Madeleine Murphy, Ted Harrington, Ger Hickey, Pat Hayes and Gary Pepper.
Ms Collins got involved as she set dances and is an occupational therapist. After forming the committee, she linked up with the Parkinson’s Association of Ireland, attended their unity walk in Dublin recently and even danced a set in St Stephen’s Green.
“We all know that set dancing has social benefits but to think that it would have health benefits and is more than just a traditional social activity we do in Ireland is fantastic,” Ms Collins said.
The conference will include an overview session on August 5 at 8pm and a full day of events begins on Tuesday, August 6 from 10am, featuring talks by Prof Lynch, Prof Volpe, Dr Clifford and Ms Shanahan.
Set-dancing demonstrations will be held with PD patients from Italy and Ireland, accompanied by world-renowned musician Martin Hayes and workshops will be conducted in set dancing by Joanne Shanahan, Romano and Stefania Baratella.
The Italian delegation will be staying on locally for the International Feakle Festival, which is a Gathering event.