5 minute read
Ping4Alzheimer – Table tennis to help slow cognitive decline
According to some scientific studies, table tennis is one of the most suitable and recommended sports for older people, and may help to slow cognitive decline. With this in mind, Renato Walkowiak began giving special sessions for people with dementia and carers at Levallois Sporting Table Tennis Club in France, and the “Ping4Alzheimer” initiative was born. It is now being deployed nationally in partnership with France Alzheimer and the French Table Tennis Federation.
Table tennis may help slow or protect against Alzheimer’s and other dementias. According to studies, including that of Dr Daniel Amen (American neuropsychiatrist, specialist in brain disorders), table tennis helps stimulate and maintain the cognitive system. Another study, in Japan, showed brain changes before and after a ping-pong session, supported by brain imaging: It was shown to stimulate five specific areas of the brain, including the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for memory, which shrinks as Alzheimer’s disease progresses.
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Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is one of the most suitable and recommended sports for older people and may help protect against cognitive decline. At Levallois Sporting Table Tennis Club, in the Hauts-de-Seine region of France, coach and manager Renato Walkowiak created special sessions for people with dementia and their carers and so began the “Ping4Alzheimer” initiative.
Renato Walkowiak
“This sport requires permanent concentration. It improves visuospatial perception and strengthens hand-eye coordination” says Mr Walkowiak, whose grandmother had Alzheimer’s dementia.
It is also a highly inclusive and non-aggressive sport. “It’s like walking, everyone plays at their own pace, according to their age, level and physical abilities, but with the advantage of causing strong cognitive stimulation” says Mr Walkowiak, “You can even play in a chair”.
Mr Walkowiak started the initiative in Levallois, in 2018, with the aim of helping people with dementia and their carers, both in terms of partaking in an enjoyable activity on a regular basis, but also to help slow cognitive decline as much as possible. It was tested for two years (2018–2020) and the initiative convinced Alix de Chaumont, the General Secretary of the France Alzheimer association in the Hauts-de-Seine region: “Scientifically, it seems that the ping-pong exercise restores strength and volume to the hippocampus. We know that in Alzheimer’s disease it is the hippocampus that shrinks. I admit that I was a little skeptical but we have seen patients undergoing a metamorphosis.”
Renato Walkowiak
The programme has been such a success in its first two years that, in 2020, a partnership was created between the French Table Tennis Federation and France Alzheimer, with the aim of deploying the initiative nationally. The objective is twofold: to bring together a table tennis club and a France Alzheimer structure in each region of France and to identify a group that can scientifically assess the impact of this sporting practice on Alzheimer’s disease.
The game of table tennis is fun, inexpensive in terms of equipment, practicable at any age and almost without contraindications; table tennis also has many advantages for health. It is a fast and intermittent sport which calls on the cardio-respiratory system and helps develop endurance. It is perhaps, however, in the brain that its effects are the most interesting with potential benefits on attention, concentration, coordination, balance, skill and reaction speed.
“Each ball trajectory is unique, and the players must constantly adapt. This is also true in tennis, but table tennis is faster with more spin, and it is a more suitable activity for someone who is getting back to the sport than tennis, where the contact is more violent with the ball” enthuses Mr Walkowiak.
France Alzheimer President, Joël Jaouen
Professor Claire Paquet, Head of Service of the Center for Cognitive Neurology, is also involved in Ping4Alzheimer. She asserts that attending table tennis sessions such as those set up by Renato Walkowiak at the Levallois club which include passionate table tennis players, people living with dementia and carers, carries a number of benefits:
1. It allows people with dementia and carers to engage with others both socially and intellectually, through playing and through conversations in-between games.
2. It provides cognitive stimulation, activating all the cognitive functions around visuospatial awareness.
3. It provides an excellent and accessible form of all-important physical activity.
For Joël Jaouen, President of France Alzheimer, “this programme, led by Renato, is a wonderful initiative. Playing ping-pong, beyond the benefits on health, brings joy to people living with dementia and their caregivers. Moreover, our partnership with the French table tennis Federation is fully in line with our fight against the prejudices that affect the families concerned on a daily basis. All of the actions implemented will enrich the support and well-being of people with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers.”
Testimonial from a participant
We have the interesting story of Etienne, 65, who has been a sportsman all his life. His wife tells us that he can’t concentrate at home and he always starts an activity without finishing it. When he arrived at the ping-pong club, however, he immediately played for two hours without losing his focus. The rhythm of the exchanges in table tennis has a mesmerising effect.
“We find ourselves laughing and playing like kids and we forget reality, so it puts us in a good mood. It has quite an amazing effect. We realise that we are laughing again, though we had stopped laughing and in our daily lives we don’t laugh as much. When we play, there is nothing but that little ball and everything else falls away.
A Ping4Alzheimer session of table tennis for people with dementia and carers
Find out more about the initiative and hear testimonials, here (in French with English subtitles): http://bit.ly/Ping4Alzheimer
https://en.ping4alzheimer.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ Ping4Alzheimer/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ ping4alzheimer/
