Before Parkinsonâs disease changed his life, Larry Jennings loved to sing, dance and play his guitar.
A decade after his diagnosis, the 73-year-old Oklahoma man is once again able to dance with his wife, thanks to the therapeutic power of music.
Jenningsâ remarkable improvement was captured on video that has gone viral since his physical therapist Anicea Gunlock shared it on Facebook.
at first shows Jennings struggling to walk around his home in Hartshorne, Okla., even with the help of a walker.
But when Gunlock started playing music on her cellphone, Jenningsâ stride immediately improved. Within a couple of minutes, Jennings was able to let go of his walker and even lead Gunlock in a dance.
âIâd never seen anything like it,â Gunlock told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview Thursday.
Gunlock explained how, after her very first session with Jennings yielded no real improvements in his gait, she went home and started researching therapies for Parkinsonâs disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that can severely limit a patientâs movements.
She came across a study that used music to help patients improve their gait and decided to try it out with Jennings. Gunlock said she spent a considerable amount of time finding the right song â nothing too fast or too slow. She eventually settled on âGood Ole Boys Like Me,â a 1979 country song by Don Williams.
âWhen I went back a couple of days later to do it with Larry, it was just astounding,â Gunlock said. âLiterally, it was instantaneous results.â
At one point in the video, Jennings is also seen singing along to âGood Ole Boys.â Since Jan. 5, the video has garnered more than nine million views.
âIâm really happy that it has been seen by so many people,â Jenningsâ wife Kathy said, describing how everyone was âin tearsâ when her husband danced across the floor for the first time.
Now, âhe can dance with whoever is around,â Kathy told CTVNews.ca. âWe danced all over.â
She said caregivers often get discouraged as Parkinsonâs disease continues to rob their loved ones of movement and speech. But sheâs always been hopeful that her husbandâs condition would improve.
âWith his illness, you have to not give up,â she said. âWeâre hoping that heâll get even better.â
The power of music and dance
Music and dance have long been used to help Parkinsonâs patients improve their movements and motor skills. A number of Canadian researchers have been involved in the global effort to better understand the therapeutic benefits of music for people like Jennings.
âRight now, nobody has any idea what is going on in the brain to make this happen,â said Jessica Grahn, a professor at Western University in London, Ont., who has been researching the way music and rhythm are processed in the brains of people with movement disorders like Parkinsonâs.
She said there seems to be âgreat variabilityâ in how Parkinsonâs disease patients respond to music. Some, like Jennings, show an instant response, while others show little to no improvement.
âOne of the things weâre really interested in isâŚwhat is it that makes music effective for any given patient?â Grahn told CTVNews.ca.
One of the working theories, she said, is that music enables the brain of a Parkinsonâs patient to âbypass the faulty circuitryâ caused by the disease. Many patients struggle with internally-generated movements -- trying to get up and walk across the room, for example-- only to realize that their brain is not receiving the signal. But reflexive movements, such as catching a ball thrown in their direction or dancing to music, seem to remain intact, Grahn said.
For Alice-Betty Rustin, who was diagnosed with Parkinsonâs disease six years ago, music and dance programs have been more than just physical therapy.
âItâs also a great social (activity),â the 79-year-old Toronto-area resident said. She has seen many other people with Parkinsonâs benefit greatly from dance programs, including one offered at
Gunlock, the physical therapist in Oklahoma, said she decided to share her video online in hopes it would help other Parkinsonâs patients and the therapists who work with them.
âThe response has been amazing,â she said.