Patients and Students Reach New Milestones at the L.S. Skaggs Wellness Center
Patients and Students Reach New Milestones at the L.S. Skaggs Wellness Center
Walking into the L.S. Skaggs Wellness Center at University of Utah Health, the atmosphere is immediately welcoming. On the surface, it looks like any other gym: participants using machines, a schedule posted on the corkboard, walls decorated with colorful art. But look closer, and it becomes clear that this is no ordinary workout space.
This is a place where students, staff, and participants share their stories, form friendships, and often spend time together outside of the gym. This supervised medical gym provides a safe, supportive environment for people who benefit from extra guidance during exercise, including those with neurodegenerative diseases, stroke survivors, and people receiving bariatric care.
How exercise helps
Lee Dibble, PhD, PT, professor of physical therapy and athletic training in the University of Utah College of Health, says that for many people with chronic conditions, exercise is a key part of healing or staying healthier.
Decades of research at the U has shown that for neurodegenerative conditions, including multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, exercise can slow disease progression and keep people healthier longer. When that research gained momentum the mid-1990s, Dibble says, “it was the start of a paradigm shift,” reshaping the conventional medical wisdom that advised rest for people with neurological conditions. Now, regular exercise is widely accepted as an essential part of staying healthier regardless of age or diagnosis.
Dibble and his colleagues’ own research has shown that regular, high intensity cycling or strength training can slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease. A next step in this research is currently underway in which the U is a site for a clinical trial to see how community-based high-intensity cycling classes benefit people with Parkinson’s disease. Given the study’s strict eligibility rules, the gym hosts separate community-based cycling classes with the same high-intensity protocol to ensure that anyone who wants to participate can.
Building skills for participants and students
The L.S. Skaggs Wellness Center is also an educational space where students from across the College of Health can gain hands-on experience. “We strive to foster independence,” explains Jasmine Arreguin, a graduate student in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program. “Some folks need help setting up machines, other folks need a little more guidance with form or equipment. I’m there to assist them through their process. I feel like I’m learning more every single time I come in. I can connect the dots with my education and use it to further help people.”
Another physical therapy student, Maya Stoller, has found opportunities to connect her physical therapy training with her own athletic background. “It’s a cool opportunity to integrate what I have learned in the PT program with what I know from previous experience.”
Whole-person care
For patients, the benefits of the medical gym extend far beyond the physical. Social and cognitive activity is also a crucial part of treatment for neurological conditions like multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease—and the community atmosphere of the gym provides those as well.
“For a lot of people, this is what gets them out of the house and out in the sunlight,” says Shannon Wells, DPT, explaining that people tend to develop mutual accountability with their medical gym buddies. “For many of our participants, this is their outing for the week and their chance to get into the community.”
“We’re not just a gym that says, ‘Lift the weights, get on the treadmill, you’re done,’” Dibble adds. “It’s more holistic.”
On the way out of the medical gym, participant-created artwork decorates this space. One of these art pieces stands in a corner of the gym: a human silhouette made of colored glass. Textured seams in the glass show where it’s been fractured into pieces. But more importantly, it’s been fused back together into a whole.
