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His eyes do not leave the small round ball, his arms are untied. Luci Krippner completely forgets about Parkinson’s disease when she plays table tennis in a Berlin gymnasium.
“I sometimes train for 3 hours, freely, without realizing that I am tired. That’s great“, smiles this 69-year-old retiree. Since 2015, she has lived with this neurodegenerative disease which restricts her ability to move.
Playing table tennis decreases her tremors and makes her movements less painful, she says. “And at night, I sleep better“, adds Ms. Krippner over the sound of balls bouncing.
Since last year, Luci has been training twice a week with about ten members of the association “Ping Pong Parkinson“, which promotes the therapeutic virtues of the discipline.
For World Parkinson’s Day, April 11, the table tennis players chained smashes without sparing their efforts.
“I need less medication when I play regularly“, says coach Andreas Moroff, 54. Wearing a “Team Germany” t-shirt, he checks from time to time that everyone is feeling well.
“Everyone can stop whenever they want“, he explains, “to drink a little or take his treatment“, based on dopamine, which temporarily eliminates the symptoms.
world Cup
Between two matches or after training, table tennis players sometimes talk about the disease. “Here, we know better than anyone what we experience on a daily basis, the sorrows and anxieties“, testifies Andreas.
“It’s very nice to play with people who share the same fate“, agrees Michael Siegert, 65 years old.
The latter easily lets his joy burst after a point won. “It’s not just fun, it’s also a form of therapy“.
Several members of the team, including Andreas and Luci, will take part in the next World Cup of table tennis for people with Parkinson’s, in September in Austria. The objective will be to “play without relentlessness”, repeats Andreas, who spends about 10 hours a week racket in hand.
Established in Germany since 2020, Ping Pong Parkinson has 170 clubs in the country and a thousand members.
On its site, the association relies on a Japanese study from 2021 according to which regular practice of ping-pong for 6 months can reduce the physical symptoms of Parkinson’s, such as tremor or stiffness.
Some six million people live with Parkinson’s disease worldwide, including 400,000 in Germany, according to the association. Incurable, it can also cause speech and sleep disorders.
Over the years, the patient gradually loses the ability to move and may eventually require a wheelchair or bed rest.