Dana Wlazlak does a little sparring with the boxing bag during a work-out session Thursday, Sept. 19 at the Parkinson’s Wellness Place in Snohomish.
Photo by Doug Ramsay
SNOHOMISH — In a small studio off Avenue D, senior citizens are practicing boxing.
They don gloves and throw punches, but they will never set foot inside a ring.
Their fight is ceaseless, and their opponent is undefeated: Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s is an uncurable, progressive disorder that affects the nervous system. Symptoms include tremors, slowed movement, stiff muscles, loss of balance, and changes to speech and writing.
“Exercise is the only thing proven to slow down the progression of the disease,” said LaRae McCurry, co-founder of Parkinson’s Wellness Place.
Any intense exercise helps with Parkinson’s, but several studies have shown boxing to be particularly beneficial.
So Wellness Place holds classes in Rock Steady Boxing, a national program striving to improve life for people with Parkinson’s through a non-contact, boxing based fitness curriculum.
McCurry and co-founder Lacey Ramon became certified Rock Steady instructors after receiving inquiries about the program while running Early Bird Coaching, a personal training business.
“We were running this gym, and we had two emails within a couple of weeks asking if we had this boxing program,” Ramon said.
A client happened to be on the board of a Parkinson’s nonprofit, which granted the pair money to fly to Indianapolis for training.
Wellness Place opened in 2017 and is now its own nonprofit. It has about 80 class members, which it calls “athletes.”
“Coming in here, I’ve felt better and better,” said Dana Wlazlak, who joined shortly after being diagnosed in 2021. “My balance is a lot better. My brain fog has improved immensely. It has helped me so much.”
Wlazlak, a 60-year-old retired accountant, is training for his first marathon: the Oct. 13 Snohomish River Run. His wife, Lily Bartis-Wlazlak, is a massage therapist at the center, and he is studying to be a Rock Steady coach.
Once a 10k scholarship runner at Everett Community College, Dana was freezing at the top of stairs before Wellness Place. He now runs daily and has completed two half-marathons.
In the first he finished third for his age group. He ran faster in the second but didn’t place.
“I’m hoping to finish (River Run) in about four hours,” he said.
Parkinson’s is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease. An estimated 1 million Americans have Parkinson’s, and that number is expected to rise to 1.2 million by 2030.
The disease is more common in men than women. It usually appears or accelerates late in life; early onset is defined as before age 50.
Athletes at Wellness Place range from ages 41 to 80. They are separated into five mobility levels, with classes tailored to ability.
Each class starts with stretching and miscellaneous activities before students strap on the gloves and start punching speed bags and hand-held pads.
A few practice handwriting. Others work with buttons and zippers. Some stack washers on wooden posts.
“It differs with every class,” Ramon said. “Some students say, ‘Washer stacking isn’t hard.’ I say, ‘You haven’t tried to make it hard.’ Try stacking washers while you’re standing on a bocce ball.”
The goal, she said, is to create a “focused intensity” by pushing students past their mental limits – to a seven or eight on a fatigue scale of one to 10.
“Coaches will give us a combination of punches to do,” Wlazlak said. “Half is cardio, and half is hand-eye coordination. It’s great exercise.”
Wellness Place offers more than boxing. There is yoga, a movement class, and a class called TREBLE Makers that uses silly, fun games to improve body control and encourage big, intentional movements.
“Parkinson’s makes everything small. Your footsteps are small. Your posture is small. Your handwriting is small. Your voice is small. It kind of pulls everything inward,” McCurry said. “We’re working on trying to make everything big.”
How to reach
Parkinson’s Wellness Place: 360-568-0588, 112 Ave. D, Suite B, Snohomish.
Golf tournament results
A fundraiser golf tournament Sept. 13 raised $77,548 for Parkinson’s Wellness Place, the organization said.
