It seems like an impossible combination: bouldering in a tens of meters high climbing hall while you have the Parkinson’s disease. But Gerard Roodklif from Oisterwijk does it anyway. With a few others Parkinson’s patients he received a CLIME COURSE at Neolite in Eindhoven. Because it helps him to combat the symptoms of the disease. “You forget the disease because you are climbing.”
Climbing with this condition is not easy, but Gerard is enthusiastic. “I was actually a bit against it and thought: should I still do that at my age? But with our care group they said ‘yes, you can’. We did it and indeed: we can do it,” he says proudly. “It was grandiose. I had the day of my life.”
Co -student Rinie is also satisfied after his climbing adventure. “I really did my best to feel as much as possible what it is. And I think it is very positive for Parkinson’s because of the movements and the muscles that you otherwise use less.”
“You only think of that one grip, not the disease.”
The mental aspect of climbing also helps the participants. It makes the climbers forget that they have Parkinson’s. “I don’t think you have time to think about that,” says Gerard. “You only think of that one grip, not the disease”
That is also what initiator Tom van den Berg (56) likes the sport. “If I climb, then I am really not busy with anything else. If you hang in the wall, then you can only come up if you are really just climbing. Then you don’t have time to think about other things.”
“I suddenly became less strong on one side of my body.”
Tom came up with the idea for the climbing course for people with Parkinson’s. The Helmonder is a fanatic athlete and especially climber, but also a few years ago Parkinson’s was found. “The first thing I noticed was that I became less strong on one side of my body. At one point your motor skills and balance will also deteriorate. So then the climb will also become less.”
A sports psychologist then pointed him to the climbing groups for people with Parkinson’s in America. Tom embraces the idea of fighting his illness by doing what he prefers to do: climb. His good friend Leo Broekmans supports him in that plan. The two have known each other since their studies at the TU-Eindhoven and have been climbing fanatically at the time.
“Finding your brain with a route and translating it into large movements that helps.”
And Broekmans is just the co-owner of the climbing and boulder hall Neolite at the Vijfkamplaan in Eindhoven. “You stand for a climbing wall and you see handles and you have to think about how you grab from one to the other. And you have to translate that into large movements with your entire body. That helps to fight the symptoms of Parkinson’s,” Leo explains. The two have the desire to make their Project Parklimson available at all Neolite locations.
And although climbing was a party for the students, the highlight was just like every climber reaching the top. “You can tap that. That is the reward if you have made it that is also very nice to do,” says Rinie. Gerard also thinks that one of the nicest parts of the day. “I thought that was really cool with that jump,” he laughs.