2022_09_New_Jersey_Monthly
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garden<br />
variety<br />
h e a l t h<br />
SMASH<br />
David Falk of<br />
Cresskill has been<br />
playing the game<br />
with PingPongParkinson<br />
for the last<br />
several months.<br />
Playing may actually<br />
halt the progression<br />
of the disease.<br />
BOUNCING BACK<br />
Ping-Pong may help those who are suffering from Parkinson’s disease.<br />
PHOTOGRAPH: JOHN EMERSON<br />
It’s Tuesday night at the Ready<br />
to Golf sports center in River<br />
Edge, and in the table-tennis<br />
room, the thump of piped-in<br />
disco mingles with the rhythmic<br />
pops of little plastic balls, creating<br />
a din that’s surprisingly cheerful. It’s<br />
certainly no deterrent to the dozen<br />
or so men and women who’ve come<br />
together this evening to have some fun<br />
and hone their Ping-Pong chops. The<br />
folks with the blue name tags have also<br />
come to face down a common adversary:<br />
Parkinson’s disease.<br />
Watching the players, though,<br />
you’d be hard pressed to distinguish<br />
between those with Parkinson’s and<br />
those without, except for their name<br />
tags (volunteers wear red). There’s<br />
something about the game that tames<br />
the uncontrollable body movements<br />
that characterize the disease and helps<br />
clear the mental fog that sometimes<br />
accompanies it.<br />
In fact, Ping-Pong does more than<br />
offer a temporary reprieve from symptoms;<br />
it can apparently actually halt<br />
the progression of the disease. That,<br />
essentially, is the idea behind Ping-<br />
PongParkinson, a nonprofit founded in<br />
SEPTEMBER <strong>2022</strong> NEW JERSEY MONTHLY 15