parkrun unintended benefits

[摘要] I started parkrun1 in 2014. My son who was 12 years old was a good runner and was keen for us both to try it. The experience was uplifting. Each week we would embark on the 5 km course with friendly camaraderie among our fellow runners. My times improved over 18 months and I passed the 50 parkrun milestone fitter than I had ever been.However, I then found that my times plateaued at around 26 minutes. I couldn’t improve. My son who attended parkrun with me regularly commented that I wasn’t moving my left side properly when I ran. My left arm was not swinging and my left leg was dragging. I had not noticed.I went to my GP, who referred me for a neurological opinion following a normal MRI scan. The neurologist diagnosed Parkinson’s disease and a dopamine scan (DaT scan) confirmed the condition with sparse take-up of dopamine in the basal ganglia. So parkrun aided in identifying my early symptoms of Parkinson’s.The parkrun, a 5 km timed run, is a good challenge for everyone and can, as well as improving long-term health conditions, unmask conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.© British Journal of General Practice 2022REFERENCE 1.↵Haake S, Quirk H, Bullas A (2022) parkrun and the promotion of physical activity: insights for primary care clinicians from an online survey. Br J Gen Pract, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2022.0001.

[学科分类] 卫生学