Ping Pong Parkinson: You’ve Seen the Videos, Now Read the Book!

**********

**********

I’ve blogged before (click!  click!  click!) about the table tennis club near where I live in suburban New York.  On Wednesday nights it hosts a gathering of ping pong enthusiasts with Parkinson’s disease for an hour of exercises, ping pong rallies, and related activities.  Nenad Bach, a rock musician from Croatia, started the ball rolling, and after the game caught on with the local Parkies, he traveled the world and promoted it in other countries.  In 2019 our local club hosted the world’s first International Ping Pong Parkinson tournament, with participants from a dozen countries.

Now there’s a book, PingPongParkinson, that tells the story of how the movement began and where it’s headed.  What’s terrific is that any level of player can participate in the game – from rank beginner to top athlete.  Ping Pong is great for combatting PD because it teaches you new mental skills and creates new neuronal pathways in your brain.  Plus it’s very social.

The book is available through Barnes and Nobel.  Next year (2024), the international tournament will be in Tokyo, Japan.

For more information about finding or starting a club in your neck of the woods, visit PingPongParkinson, or check out their Facebook page.