Missing link found between brain, immune system; major disease implications
 

A healthy lymphatic system
 

Thanks for sharing this, how interesting! When we consider the lymphatic system, it makes a lot of sense why exercise helps so much. Since the lymphatic system does not have its own pump like the circulatory system, we have to be the pump and we do that by moving. The more we move, the more our lymphatic system gets pumped and the more toxins get circulated around and out. No wonder the old codger who putters around in his garage and yard all day lives to be 100 with no problems:)

You can google healthy lymphatic system and there is a wealth of information out there from exercise to brushing your skin to massage.

Here is an article with more extensive information on how the brains lymphatic system operates.
http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/s...ex.cfm?id=3584

superceded
 

I believe this new U of V discovery trumps the U of Rochester idea of a lymph-like system. it is now not a glial lymph system, but actually linked to the rest of the body's lymphatic system. this could be a huge game changer.

I imagine the stooped posture we typically see in Parkinson's patients could play a role in blocking lymphatic circulation to/from the brain.

Previously Unknown Cleansing System in Brain
 

This was published in August, 2012. What has been the follow up since then?

How About "Assisted" High Cadence Cycling?
 

I found this thread in the archives by searching on the word "lymph". I was hoping to learn why exercise, particularly high-cadence cycling, can sometimes help the symptoms of PD so dramatically.

I subscribe to the theory that PD most commonly has microbial etiology. The brain in PD may be less able to cleanse itself of infection and inflammation -- and if the glymphatic system is the means by which that cleansing takes place, then it seems to make sense to increase the flow of lymph through that hydraulic system, which is pumped by body movement. A PD patient who doesn't move much, probably has slow glymphatic flow. High-cadence cycling should increase the flow of lymph through the glymphatic system. This sounds like the perfect recipe for cleaning the brain; a clean brain may be better able to heal itself.

Equipment like the Theracycle can provide either resistance or assistance for pedaling. Hypothetically, "if" high-cadence cycling improves brain cleansing solely by the speed of its pumping action -- meaning that speed rather than effort may be the important factor -- then it may not matter whether we use assistance to achieve that speed. Hypothetically, even a paraplegic PWP could achieve the necessary speed, by using equipment that assists. What do others think about this? Many thanks! :)

I like the idea that the rate of switching between states is important, though I'm not sure about why high cadence should be particularly useful.

Five years ago I built a simple machine to give forced exercise to the arms. I posted on this at:
http://www.neurotalk.org/parkinson-s...cise-arms.html

The results for me were mixed: bradykinesia down, tremor up. Note it wasn't a double blind test, so there's a lot of opportunity for the placebo effect to play a part.

John

That is a fascinating thread, John. I have wondered if doing high-cadence cycling as interval training would be helpful for folks who cannot keep cycling continuously for 1.5 hours -- changing state every 2 minutes, for example, 2 mins on, 2 mins off, or something similar. If you alternate between intense cycling and rest, you are stressing your mitochondria that much less, which could mitigate the tremor. Just a thought! Thanks for sharing that thread, I'll be re-reading it.

Passive leg cycling
 

Bergamotte said: "Hypothetically, even a paraplegic PWP could achieve the necessary speed, by using equipment that assists."

There has been at least one study done with passive leg cycling [1] but, from memory, the effect was fairly mild.

Acute effects of passive leg cycling on upper extremity tremor and bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease. - PubMed - NCBI

[1] Ridgel AL, Muller MD, Kim CH, Fickes EJ, Mera TO. Acute effects of passive leg cycling on upper extremity tremor and bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease. Phys Sportsmed 2011 Sep;39(3):83-93. doi: 10.3810/psm.2011.09.1924.