PD and the rhythm
The PD Movement Lab, taught by Pamela Quinn (left), a professional dancer with Parkinson’s Disease, at the Marlene Meyerson JCC on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. // Megan Naftali/ In Sheer Magazine.
A circle of eight spaced out chairs stand in the center of a dance studio on the fourth floor of the Marlene Meyerson JCC in Manhattan. Ballet barres, punching bags and other exercise equipment is pushed back against the wall because from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. every Monday, the only equipment of significance is music.
The Parkinson’s Disease (PD) Movement Lab is taught by Pamela Quinn, a professional dancer who has been living with PD for over 25 years.
Quinn moves her feet along to the rhythm of the music playing in class. //Megan Naftali/In Sheer Magazine.
PD is a progressive disease in which there is a depletion of dopamine in the brain causing motor effects, such as shuffling, shaking hands, slow or poorly timed movements, tremors, stiffness and rigidity. The stiffness and rigidity can also be manifested through speech, making someone’s speech sound quiet, poorly articulated, raspy or whispery, according to Ilene “Lee” Morris, a neurologic music therapist at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson.
“More more more, less less, more more more more, less less, less is more, less is more, less is more, less is more, more or less, more or less,” was among the chants incorporated in Quinn’s PD Movement Lab. At the beginning of the class, Quinn used chants along with rhythmic sounds to provoke upper and lower body movements such as hand and foot gestures.
“For every class I make a playlist and I have a repertoire of about 400 songs to choose from. I like to be introduced to new music,” Quinn said. “I like looking for new sounds for Parkinson’s Disease. You have to have a very clear rhythm. If you don’t, it’s hard for people to move to it.”
Research has resulted in insight into why the rhythm of music can help those with Parkinson’s disease. Although the condition is associated with a loss of internal cueing systems, people can receive cues, such as beats that correspond to stepping, through listening to music, according to Morris.
“When we have a patient with Parkinson's, they'll be here probably for something else that brings them to [inpatient] rehab, but I will often work with them during their physical therapy session because we find that music, particularly the rhythmic aspect of music, can really help with that festination [shuffling gait],” Morris said. “For some reason, music takes the place of the impaired internal timing mechanism by serving like an external timekeeper.”
Music is known as a cue, which is an external prompt that facilitates movement. Since PD can cause people to have an uneven stride, the rhythmic structure of music helps even out your stride and initiate movement, according to Quinn.
Quinn (right) has students marching to the music. // Megan Naftali/ In Sheer Magazine.
“I wanted to have a second child, which meant I couldn't go on any medication. I had to find non-chemical ways of helping me move, and began investigating this,” Quinn said. “I found these cues that helped me: Music, lines on the ground, copying people’s movement. They all work to help me move, so I thought I need to find out if they help other people too, so I just started teaching.”
Quinn was the founding co-director, choreographer and dancer for the nationally renowned modern dance company ODC in San Francisco from 1976 to 1985, the director of performing arts series at New Performance Gallery in San Francisco from 1978 to 1985 and creator of over 20 original works of dance and theater in collaboration with Michael O’Connor, a writer and actor, presented in New York and on national tours from 1984 to 1994, according to her resume.
Quinn’s first symptom of Parkinson’s Disease was in 1994 and she was officially diagnosed in 1996. When she was diagnosed, her doctor discouraged her from moving because at the time, neurologists feared that if people with PD move, they would fall and get injured.
“Their whole attitude towards movement was to not move, and as a professional dancer I knew that wasn’t true. I knew that I was at my best when I was moving the most,” Quinn said. “I was going to train as a Parkinson’s person [and] become a Parkinson’s athlete. Now they’ve done a 180-degree turn saying you have to exercise. I remember when my neurologist said ‘When are you getting exercise?’ I said ‘I’ve been waiting 10 years for you to ask me that.’”
Rhoda Cahan, a New York City resident who has Parkinson’s Disease, was told by her doctor that she should exercise two hours a day because it makes a difference in the progression of PD.
“I found that when I went to exercise classes that had music in it, I much more enjoyed it,” Cahan said. “Then we started singing in the classes. I just found that I totally forgot I had Parkinson’s, and I was just totally into the music.”
Morris leads a few music therapy groups at St. Charles including “Loud and Lyrical,” a therapeutic chorus for people with Parkinson’s disease. Through Stony Brook Southampton’s Center for Parkinson’s Disease and SBU, she helped develop another singing program and research project called “Sing Out Loud.” There is a difference between music therapy and exercise classes that are recreational. Muscle warm-ups in these classes involve music, which is an enjoyable experience for those in attendance, according to Morris.
“The exercises, just like with any warmup that you would do if you were a singer, are designed to prime the body and the voice. [It’s important to] relax the muscles that might become tense, that might interfere with a good flow of air, and that are involved in good posture,” Morris said. “We say it's for singing, but singing and speaking involve the same oral musculature.”
Aside from physical benefits, music programs can also improve social and emotional functioning, according to Morris.
“Music from its inception was meant to be shared, it’s meant to be a human activity that we can participate in together, and it's meant to be enjoyed,” Morris said. “So as long as the person doesn't despise the kind of music that we're doing, then it tends to be an enjoyable activity, and enjoyment and an experience of pleasant stimuli is really important because dopamine is also indicated in our pleasure responses.”
Participants enjoy the social interaction behind touching elbows.//Megan Naftali/In Sheer Magazine.
In Quinn’s PD Movement Lab, it was evident that the participants enjoyed the social interaction. The second portion of the class was more interactive and allowed the participants to walk up to each other and touch elbows. Before long, smiles were seen around the room as they were working together to improve themselves in the battle against Parkinson’s Disease.
