What Are The Theracycle Specifications
Theracycle 100
20 W x 44 L x 57 H 220 lbs. Boxed for shipping 240 lbs
The electrical cord on all models is 9-feet long.
The Theracycle is a custom product, made in the USA by hand in Franklin, MA.
We first speak with every potential customer to assess their needs. This allows us to recommend with confidence the model that will immediately bring you the best result. During this conversation, we can also determine if customization is necessary. Our sales specialists do not work on commission. They are well informed about your condition and truly want to help you live the best life.
To speak to a sales specialist, please call us at , MondayFriday from 8:305:00 EST.
During this call you will be asked for information on where to ship, the riders height and weight for fitting, along with a credit card, which will be held securely until your unit is produced. Lead times vary, your sales specialist will let you know the expected ship window.
After your order has been placed, you will receive a sales order confirming your sale and your Theracycle will be placed into production.
Once packed and ready for shipment, your credit card will be charged. You will then receive an email with a copy of the paid invoice, tracking information and a link to an informational page on our website with details on what to expect next.
Theracycle Therapy Products are made in the USA and shipped from Franklin, MA.
Cycling Is Good For You
Research shows that people with Parkinsons experience significant benefits from pushing pedals on a regular basis.
Depending upon pace and intensity, cycling has been shown to:
- Improve overall motor function
- Increase joy and social connections
Plus, its fun. Especially now. You can get outside with your friends and explore new roads, locations, and trails all while remaining socially distanced. If riding outside doesnt feel good or safe for you, there are also plenty of stationary bike options and virtual group cycling classes to keep you moving, engaged, and connected.
Its Supposed To Be Fun
For all the reasons listed above and more, cycling is an ideal activity for people with Parkinsons. But its also just a fun way to spend time with friends, destress, and enjoy life.
No matter where you live, there is likely a biking group nearby that you could join. We often hear from riders who join cycling groups that they fall in love with more than just riding they fall in love with the people they meet and the friendships they form in the biking community.
Biking can help you set new goals and stay motivated to reach them. It can also be a powerful tool to raise funds for causes you care about or contribute to new research being conducted about cyclings effects on Parkinsons.
Recommended Reading: Should Someone With Parkinson’s Drive
Bike Riding Offers Clue To Parkinsons
BikeBiz 7th January 2011Business
Bicycle riding may be valuable in the diagnosis of Parkinsons patients, according to doctors from the Netherlands .
According to doctors writing to The Lancet medical journal, those with standard Parkinsons were more likely to still be able to ride a bike than those with atypical Parkinsons, which requires a different form of treatment.
The group said that the ability to ride a bike could be, potentially, more effective than current expensive tests.
The letter read: We suggest that the answer to one simple questionCan you still ride a bicycle?offers good diagnostic value for separating Parkinsons disease from atypical parkinsonism.
Cycling requires a highly co-ordinated interplay between balance, co-ordination, and rhythmic pedalling of the legs.
“This skilled task is probably sensitive to subtle problems with balance or co-ordination, caused by the more extensive extranigral pathology in atypical Parkinsonism. Simply asking about cycling abilities could be added to the list of red flags that can assist clinicians in their early differential diagnosis of parkinsonism.
The group from Parkinson Centre Nijmegen, Netherlands includes Drs Marjolein Aerts, Wilson Abdo, and Prof Bastiaan Bloem, of the Department of Neurology.
What Are The Benefits Of Bicycle Therapy
Bicycle therapy does not cure anyone of Parkinsons disease. Instead, it is a form of exercise that helps them utilize their cardiovascular and musculoskeletal system. Individuals with Parkinsons disease often struggle with movement, and due to this, they find it hard to exercise and strengthen their cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems.
When these systems are underused, they begin to waste away or degenerate, which can worsen Parkinsons disease symptoms. When individuals perform bicycle therapy, they use their cardiovascular and musculoskeletal system, which helps to reverse the wasting or degeneration occurring. As individuals with Parkinsons disease use bicycle therapy, they are forcing their body to work, which helps decrease their overall symptoms and helps out in many other ways.
Here are a few of the most common benefits from bicycle therapy:
- Increased Flexibility
- Reduction in Depression and Anxiety
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Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Subjects were scanned on a General Electric Signa Excite 1.5 T scanner at a University Hospital. T1 images were acquired using 3D magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo sequence, repetition time = 13.12 ms, echo time = 4.2 ms, flip angle = 15°, field of view = 240 × 240 mm, voxel size = 1 mm isotropic. Resting and task fMRI data were acquired using gradient-echo echoplanar imaging sequence, with TR = 3,000 ms, TE = 60 ms, flip angle = 90°, FOV = 240 × 240 mm, voxel size = 3.75 × 3.75 × 7 mm. Each run of resting fMRI scan lasted 6 min, producing 180 volumes of 3D images. For the hand motor task, subjects were required to tap with the index fingers for periods of 30 s alternating with 30 s of rest.
Next, the individual T1-weighted images were co-registered to the mean realigned functional images using a linear transformation the T1 was segmented into gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid tissue maps followed by non-linear normalization into the Montreal Neurological Institute space. Temporal band-pass filtering was performed on the residual time series of each voxel to reduce the effect of low-frequency drift and high-frequency noise . The final step in preprocessing was a spatial smoothing with an isotropic Gaussian kernel of 4 mm FWHM.
BikeBiz 7th January 2011Business
Bicycle riding may be valuable in the diagnosis of Parkinsons patients, according to doctors from the Netherlands .
Indoor Cycling As Effective In Treating Parkinson’s Disease As Medication Study Finds
Indoor cycling is effective, and right now seniors can take part in a World Championships of their own
ByMichelle Arthurs-Brennanpublished 12 September 19
People in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease may see their symptoms dramatically improved by aerobic exercise like indoor cycling, a study has shown.
Researchers found that high intensity aerobic exercise on a static bike, using interactive apps, provided ‘about the same improvement’ as medication in patients.
Researchers working in the study, published in The Lancet Neurology, split a group of sufferers into two groups and monitored their progress over six months.
One group pedalled on home trainers, using software which showed course such as Tour de France stages, with variable resistance letting them compete against other patients on hills.
The other group did stretching exercises three times a week, also with an app to maintain motivation.
The control group scored four less points on the scale used to assess the motor skills of Parkinson patients.
Head of the research team professor Bas Bloem told broadcaster NOS: “The effect of cycling is about the same as the improvement we would get from different types of medication. New medication for patients are regarded as meaningful if the improvement it brings has a score of three. That shows you how important the effect of cycling really is.
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A Simple Way To Help Slow Parkinsons
Researchers have found that exercise can help slow the stages of Parkinsons disease through high aerobic activities that require balance such as bicycling. In fact, riding a bike has recently been studied and praised for its neuroprotective outcomes for those with a neurodegenerative disease. It is exercises that demand attention, repetition and progression of difficulty that a Parkinsons patient needs to reduce early onset symptoms.
Cycling Could Improve Symptoms In Parkinsons Patients: Study
Parkinsons disease is like shaking and walking problems, and when severe enough can lead to cognitive issues, even dementia. But a simple exercise could help to improve symptoms of the nervous system condition, new research suggests.
Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found that riding a stationary bike seemed to improve symptoms in people with Parkinsons disease, with faster pedaling linked with greater positive effect in the brain.
Study researcher Jay L. Alberts, Ph.D., first observed this positive effect of cycling when he went on a tandem bike ride across Iowa to raise awareness for Parkinsons. Also riding with him was a patient with the condition and he noticed that when the ride was over, her symptoms had improved.
I was pedaling faster than her, which forced her to pedal faster, Alberts said in a statement. She had improvements in her upper extremity function, so we started to look at the possible mechanism behind this improved function.
Researchers found connection improvements in certain areas of the brain, particularly between the primary motor cortex and the posterior part of the thalamus. This greater connectivity is a sign of improved motor abilities, researchers noted. Faster pedaling in the study was linked with experiencing these positive brain effects.
People are looking for alternative programs, and this could be one of them, study researcher Fuzhong Li, of the Oregon Research Institute, told the Associated Press.
Also Check: When To Start Medication For Parkinson’s
How Cycling Helps To Slow Down Parkinsons Disease
In the summer of 2003, Dr Jay Alberts, a neuroscientist at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, took a bike
In the summer of 2003, Dr Jay Alberts, a neuroscientist at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, took a bike ride that would change medical history. He rode a tandem bike in the week-long Des Moines Registers Annual Great Bike Race . His partner on the bike was a woman affected with Parkinsons Disease, a long-term degenerative illness afflicting the central nervous system.
Symptoms of the disorder include shaking, rigidity, difficulty in walking as well as cerebral and behavioural problems and eventually dementia, and total incapacitation after perhaps 15 years. There is no cure. Treatment is generally carried out with medication that attempts to alleviate the symptoms and slow the progress of physical degeneration.
After riding a few days, Alberts noticed that his biking partner was showing signs of physical improvement, especially in her handwriting, which had become more legible and controlled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM-DBsdajTM
In 2006, Alberts rode a tandem bike with another patient, also a doctor, who used a deep brain stimulation implant to control his Parkinsons symptoms. As an experiment, the patient turned the device off for the ride.
Not surprisingly, the researchers also found that it improves overall wellness. In other words, cycling is good for everyone.
Cycling Could Improve Symptoms In Parkinson’s Patients: Study
Parkinson’s disease is like shaking and walking problems, and when severe enough can lead to cognitive issues, even dementia. But a simple exercise could help to improve symptoms of the nervous system condition, new research suggests.
Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found that riding a stationary bike seemed to improve symptoms in people with Parkinson’s disease, with faster pedaling linked with greater positive effect in the brain.
Study researcher Jay L. Alberts, Ph.D., first observed this positive effect of cycling when he went on a tandem bike ride across Iowa to raise awareness for Parkinson’s. Also riding with him was a patient with the condition — and he noticed that when the ride was over, her symptoms had improved.
“I was pedaling faster than her, which forced her to pedal faster,” Alberts said in a statement. “She had improvements in her upper extremity function, so we started to look at the possible mechanism behind this improved function.”
Researchers found connection improvements in certain areas of the brain, particularly between the primary motor cortex and the posterior part of the thalamus. This greater connectivity is a sign of improved motor abilities, researchers noted. Faster pedaling in the study was linked with experiencing these positive brain effects.
“People are looking for alternative programs, and this could be one of them,” study researcher Fuzhong Li, of the Oregon Research Institute, told the Associated Press.
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Eat Drink And Be Merry
What you eat and drink have a big impact on your ability to live well, and the dietary choices you make can help you reduce or avoid secondary Parkinsons symptoms such as constipation and keep you energized and healthy overall.
However, when were talking about exercise, especially if its intense, its a little more complicated. Thats because some Parkinsons medications or the progression of your Parkinsons can raise your dehydration risk. That can be a huge problem if youre on a bike because dehydration can lead to confusion, weakness, issues with balance, low blood pressure, and more.
To complicate matters even more, some people with Parkinsons experience bladder problems such as a frequent and urgent need to urinate even when their bladder isnt full. This isnt ideal when youre out for a long ride.
This doesnt mean you shouldnt ride. It just means that dialing in your diet and hydration plan can make your ride a lot more fun and even more importantly, safe.
If you dont feel dialed in on your nutrition yet, here are a few resources to help you out:
Article: The 17 Most Commonly Asked Questions About Parkinsons Nutrition
Is There A Suggested Theracycle Workout That Will Improve My Pd Symptoms
Studies show that riding at 14 to 15 miles per hours for 40 minutes, 3 times per week, can prompt a significant improvement in PD symptoms. It is recommended that you begin with an easy, 10-minute warmup and follow with a relaxing 10-minute cool down. Learn about the benefits of forced exercise with the Theracycle »
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The Benefits Of Cycling With Parkinsons Have Been Shown Scientifically
Now would be a good time to sign up for that spin class. Or if taking a ride through the countryside with friends or family is more your speed, that works too. Just get on a bike and see how you like it.
Think back to your childhood in the summertime when you used to ride bikes with your friends.
Do you remember that exhilarating rush of coasting downhill on a bike with the breeze blowing in your hair? And the only responsibility you had was getting home in time for supper? Those were the days!
If you havent ridden a bike since you were a kid, you might consider reliving some of those childhood memories.
You probably already know about the health benefits of exercise for Parkinsons. After all, there have been countless research studies conducted over the years that link cardio exercise to improvement in symptoms of PD.
But what you may not know is that many of those initial studies involved having participants cycle on stationary bikes.
In fact, experts believe cycling in particular can help increase certain proteins in the brain that help with movement and cognitive function making it one of the most beneficial activities for keeping Parkinsons symptoms in check.
Thats a pretty compelling reason to hop on a bike and go for a spin around your neighborhood, dont you think? Bonus: you would gain major brownie points with your kids or grandkids.
Here’s An Outline Of What We Covered So You Can Go Directly To What You’re Interested In:
3:30 – Stories in the news about Parkinsons and cycling
5:20 – Most prominent cycling study for Parkinsons
9:30 – What this prominent study tells us
10:25 – 7 Elements of a Highly Effective Parkinson’s Exercise Program PDF Guide – www.InvigoratePT.com/7-elements-checklist
11:20 – A second study on passive cycling and Parkinsons
15:35 – Your cycling options
Also Check: Parkinson’s Ketogenic Diet Pubmed
Pedaling For Parkinsons Maritimes Ride
The Maritimes ride starts and ends at:Credit Union Place,
The 2020 trail map shows the Confederation trail system, its trunk trails , Code of the trail, Confederation trail distance guide, and much more.
Pedaling for Parkinsons Maritimes Weekend Agenda:
Saturday:8:30 am Registration and opening annoucements9am-9:30am Cohorts begin1-4pm Riders return, live music7-10pm Spaghetti dinner, music, 50/50, Surprise guest speaker
Sunday:8:30 am Registration and opening annoucements9am-9:30am Cohorts begin1-4pm Riders return, live music, closing announcements
A big thank you to our sponsors:
Platinum:
Atlantic Superstore
Trail Etiquette/Laws
The Confederation Trail is multi-use, shared by walkers, wheelchairs, and runners. In order for everyone to enjoy their trail experience, riders are encouraged to equip their bikes with a bell to notify others when passing from the rear. Pets must be leashed while on the trail and everyone is asked to leave no trace. Helmets are the law on all roads and trails on PEI. The normally closed gates that prevent other types of trail users from gaining access to the trail will temporarily be open for the sections that our participants will be using for the full weekend so that we can provide emergency assistance.
When Should You Start Riding
Even though bicycle therapy is exceptionally beneficial and relatively safe for individuals with Parkinsons disease, everyone should speak with their physician before beginning any exercise regime. Your physician knows your medical history and any limitations you may have, and they are best suited to give you the ok to start.
Once you have received the ok from your doctor, its best that you start your bicycle therapy on a stationary bike and not on a standard road bike. Stationary bikes are much safer than road bikes, but their single most important factor is they provide stability to keep you upright and pedaling.
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In September 2017 I Was Diagnosed With Young Onset Parkinsons Disease At Age 41
It changed my life.
But Im not going to let this be a meaningless disease. Im going to use this to make a difference.
Right before I was diagnosed I had been planning a cycling tour with some friends. We were going to bike across the entire state of Colorado, east-to-west. It was going to be EPIC! But in my training for the tour I kept feeling odd and experiencing strange neurological issues, so I went in to get checked out to be sure all would be okay for the ride. Enter Parkinsons Disease.
As it turned out, due to the diagnosis, new meds, and feeling horrible, I wasnt able to make that ride in 2017. It made me wonder would I EVER be able to do something like that?
But instead of slowing down and letting PD stop me, I decided to kick things into gear and fight back AGAINST Parkinsons! So, I took this past year to adjust to the new normal of life with PD, worked to understand my new limitations, and pushed myself to go beyond them. Now those friends who went without me in 2017 are ready to conquer Colorado in 2019 THIS time from South-to-North .
And were not just going to be riding for fun. Were going to use this as an opportunity to fight back against Parkinsons Disease by raising money for the Parkinson Association of the Rockies!!
My amazing family: Hannah , Kristi , me, & Noah .
Thats me and some of my dear friends participating in Pedaling for Parkinsons in 2018. We did the 60-mile route!