ping pong therapy
Some doctors believe table tennis can help improve symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases.
Fort Collins, Colorado – A doctor prescribes table tennis to a patient suffering from a serious neurological disease.
Dr. Antonio Barbera, a former obstetrician-gynecologist who currently lives with multiple sclerosis, is the founder and CEO of Table Tennis Connections in Fort Collins, Colorado, and launched the Neuropon program in 2021. .
The group meets every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday to play table tennis (also known as table tennis) inside the gym at Council Tree Covenant Church in Fort Collins, Barbera told Fox News. .
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During each session, your doctor will collect data to determine the effectiveness of your treatment.
Players will be evaluated on their performance over time, and the results will be sent to scientists across the country.
The NueroPong program is held multiple times a week at Council Tree Covenant Church in Fort Collins, Colorado. (Kennedy Hayes/Fox News)
Barbera came up with the idea for the NueroPong program in 2021 after being diagnosed with MS in 2016 and having to quit her job as a practicing physician.
“For about three months, I completely lost movement and feeling in my right leg and had to relearn how to walk,” he told Fox News.
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Thanks to a combination of medicine and table tennis, Barbera was able to make a full recovery, he said.
The doctor said he has now encouraged dozens of people diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia and Parkinson's disease to participate in the NueroPong program.
Barbera said he came up with the idea for the NueroPong program in 2021 after being diagnosed with MS in 2016 and having to quit his job as an obstetrician-gynecologist. (Kennedy Hayes/Fox News)
“If the intervention of a paddle and a simple ball can improve our quality of life, why not?” Barbera said.
NueroPong members say the program has improved their symptoms in many ways.
“Parkinson's disease affects so many things,” Neuropon member Gil Wette told Fox News.
“It's not just tremors and stiffness and slowness. It's a lot of non-motor issues…emotional issues like anxiety and depression.”
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Healthy lifestyle changes, including exercise, have been shown to help slow the progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease.
“It's not just physical activity, it's the fact that people are participating in social activities and interacting with other people. [This] It could be beneficial,” Dr. Ronald Petersen of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center in Rochester, Minnesota, told Fox News.
Players in the NeuroPong program are evaluated on their performance every few weeks. (Kennedy Hayes/FOX News)
Barbera said that since starting the Neuropon program three years ago, the organization has expanded from several cities in Colorado to gyms in New Mexico, Utah and New York, and has partnered with universities in Florida, Texas and Illinois. It is said that they are doing so.
Barbera said he has also worked with scientists at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
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“My goal is to create gyms all over the world, places where people can go… where neurologists can refer people, collect data, and show that we are doing something good. We can show it to the world,” Barbera said.
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According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, nearly 1 million people in the United States have multiple sclerosis.
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