health + HAPPINESS
Rock Steady
BOXING BY » Elizabeth Watson Chaney Photography by » Ken Noblezada
Fighting Parkinson’s Disease Like Family
The Rock Steady Boxing program at Lake Norman Muay Thai offers a sense of community along with training support.
W
hen Kru J.T. Smith first opened his Mooresville business, Lake Norman Muay Thai, in March 2016, his goal was to share his passion for the art of Muay Thai (Thai boxing). A former amateur and professional fighter, he earned his coaching certification in Thailand, where Muay Thai serves as the country’s official sport. “Kru” is the Thai word for “teacher.” Just over two years later, Smith began offering a new program at his gym: Rock
38 LimitlessMagOnline.com | April 2020
Steady Boxing (RSB), a non-contact boxing class for people battling Parkinson’s disease. Smith, who has more than 30 years of martial arts education under his belt, first learned of its existence via the internet. Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects predominately dopamine-producing neurons in a specific area of the brain of the brain called substantia nigra. Symptoms include tremors, limb rigidity, gait and balance problems. The benefits of boxing for sufferers of Parkinson’s has been researched and documented, explains Smith, who says, “all these
years I’ve been teaching people to hit so they can hurt other people; it came as a surprise that those same striking techniques are therapeutic for people with Parkinson’s disease.” RSB was founded by Scott Newman and Vince Perez in Indianapolis, Indiana, back in 2006. After Newman was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s at the age of 40, Perez, a friend and former Golden Glove boxer, became concerned about his friend’s decline. He invited Newman to join him at the gym so he could teach him how to box. Newman agreed, and he soon admitted to feeling better. Specifically, he saw
significant improvement in two common symptoms of Parkinson’s: instability and tremors. One day after a workout, he held his arm straight up and said, “Hey look, I’m rock steady!” When Smith learned about the Indianapolis program, he went there to earn his RSB coaching certification. The training shared some of the research that’s been done since the program was founded. A two-year study at the University of Indianapolis compared several small groups of patients. Each group was assigned a different exercise therapy to be done several times a week. Of all the activities
