Playing table tennis requires movement, responding to the ball as well as to the opponent, and coordination.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, after Alzheimer’s. This brain disorder usually comes on slowly. You may notice a tremor in your hand, for example, or that you are slurring your speech or feeling a little bit slower than usual. It’s a progressive disease, which means that as time goes on, your symptoms will worsen.

An estimated 500,000 people in the United States suffer from Parkinson’s disease, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. However, many experts believe that number is much higher, as people who have it can go undiagnosed for years. Worldwide, Parkinson’s is thought to affect 10 million people.

While most people think of Parkinson’s as a brain disorder that affects older adults—and it is known that incidences of Parkinson’s disease do increase with age—some four percent of people with the disease are diagnosed before they turn fifty years old.

Like certain other brain disorders, men are much more likely to suffer from Parkinson’s than women.

This is a costly disease. According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, the combined costs of the disease—including treatment, lost income, and social security payments—is on the order of $52 billion per year, just in the United States.

The disease is considered “incurable.” But medicine to treat the symptoms costs a patient an average of $2,500 a year. Surgery can run $100,000 per person, also according to the Parkinson’s Foundation.

A Way Forward Without Medicine or Surgery?

Given how costly—and potentially devastating—the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease can be, finding affordable and effective treatment options, as well as non-pharmaceutical ways to manage the disease, should be a priority.

Two years ago, researchers from Japan published a fascinating study, “Table tennis for patients with Parkinson’s disease: A single-center, prospective pilot study.” These researchers began by asking an unusual question: Could ping pong, also known as table tennis, be of benefit to people with Parkinson’s?

While anyone who has never played a racket sport may find the question a bit absurd, we all know that staying active and fit later in life helps improve cognition, vibrancy, mood, and even lifespan.

And anyone who has played a racket sport (badminton, pickleball, ping pong, racquetball, squash, and tennis, among others) knows already how much these games can help improve hand-eye coordination, balance, muscle tone, and general mobility.

The first of its kind, this Japanese pilot study of ping pong for Parkinson’s was conducted over a period of six months. The researchers designed it to examine whether a table tennis exercise program, tailored for older adults suffering from parkinsonian motor symptoms, might improve the motor symptoms, brain issues, and psychiatric symptoms.

Twelve adults with Parkinson’s disease were recruited for the study. They participated in a six-hour exercise session once a week. They were evaluated at the beginning of the study, then again at three months, and once more at six months.

Why Ping Pong?

Ping Pong is a sport that originated in Victorian England, where it was played among the upper class as an after-dinner parlor game. It was introduced as an Olympic sport in 1988.

Playing table tennis requires movement, responding to the ball as well as to the opponent, and coordination.

In addition, according to the researchers, it’s an enjoyable activity because it has a competitive component, “an activity that patients can enjoy as a game by competing for points.”

Move the Big Ball (the Earth) with a Small Ball (Ping Pong)

When Joe grew up in China, poor children could not afford expensive sports equipment. Instead, everybody played Ping Pong on concrete tables using wooden rackets. Ping Pong was so popular in the 70s and 80s, it was deemed China’s de facto national sport.

In 1994, the blockbuster movie Forest Gump featured the eponymous character playing high-level ping pong. His skills captivated audiences around the world. Many didn’t realize, however, that the movie (which grossed over $679 million worldwide) actually portrayed true historical events: Ping-pong Diplomacy between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.

It all started in 1971, during the 31st World Table Tennis Championship in Nagaya, Japan, when an American ping-pong player named Glenn Cowan missed his team bus and had to take a ride with the team from communist China. Athletes from the two hostile countries did not kill each other. Instead, they talked and laughed and shook hands.

The Earth is now a different place since the ping-pong players met on that bus. Sports help us forget our differences and appreciate our similarities. Ping pong helps change the world.

The Japanese Ping-Pong Study

The table tennis exercise program ran from November 2018 to May 2019. The participants, all righthanded, did the exercise session for six hours once a week for six months. They were not prohibited from being physically active in other ways, if they chose to be.

Students from the Department of Sports and Health Science at Japan’s Fukuoka University instructed the participants. They led them in thirty minutes of stretching and then had them do rally-style and game-style play. Included in the warm-up exercises was breath work, neck stretches, knee bends, ankle flexions, and other exercises.

After a period of morning play the study participants enjoyed a break for lunch. After lunch, they played ping pong again, and at the end of the session, they spent ten more minutes stretching and self-assessing how fatigued they felt and how much fun they had had.

Medical staff on hand monitored the participants closely so they could help the participants if they lost their balance during play.

How Did It Help?

The researchers were only able to collect data on nine of the twelve original participants: two men and seven women whose average age was 72 years old and who had suffered from PD for about 7.5 years. All were able to walk without the help of a cane or other device, even though some of the patients had previously experienced falls.

During the six months that the study lasted, one participant reported a backache, and one had a fall. But neither suffered any lasting effects from these and none of the participants needed any additional medication.

At the same time, playing ping pong “significantly improved” certain aspects of Parkinson’s patients’ mobility.

“Because swinging paddles repeatedly around the body requires manipulation of axial muscles,” the researchers concluded, “it is possible that this exercise program may help ameliorate axial symptoms. Furthermore, the rhythmic sounds of the ball hitting the table may provide an auditory cue for participants to move. In addition, the visual image of an orange or white ping-pong ball coming over a green table may provide an exciting visual cue for participants to move.”

The study also found that table tennis improved motor experiences of daily living for the participants, at three months and six months.

The scientists enthusiastically noted that rehabilitation using ping pong has the possibility of having relatively immediate positive effects for people suffering from Parkinson’s.

Several aspects of the game, including its competitive nature, the ease at which it can be learned, the socialization that comes from being active in a sport with other people, and the fun involved in playing ping pong, were also noted.

We know from other research that exercise helps people of all ages and abilities feel more positive and vibrant, as does engaging in new activities. In addition, research has long associated movement with longevity. So it makes sense that table tennis could help people suffering from a degenerative brain disorder.

Now bring out the paddles. It’s time to play ping pong.