Locals spar with Parkinson’s in Wilmette’s Breakthrough Karate

Every disease is cruel in its own way, but Parkinson’s disease is a particularly relentless erosion of a person’s neural pathways, leaving those who have it with increasing weakness as well as muscle and balance deterioration.

Some who deal with the incurable and progressive disease must also navigate through digestive, sensory and mental challenges. It is a relentless foe. 

Just because Parkinson’s can’t yet be cured, however, doesn’t mean those with the disease can’t fight its progress to keep as much of their independent lives as possible, for as long as possible. Wilmette resident Dr. Steve Eisenstein knows that, because he and colleague Dave Jaffe help many of them with that fight.

The battleground? Karate. Specifically, Breakthrough Karate, a program Eisenstein developed in 2017 for people with Parkinson’s.

Eisenstein, a family practice physician whose office is in Northbrook, has studied karate since 2005. He is a third-degree, or sandan, black belt instructor (sensei) in the Shotokan style of karate and has taught since 2013, when he and fellow Shotokan instructors founded the Traditional Karate Club of Wilmette.

The club first operated under the auspices of the Wilmette Park District, but now does so as an independent entity, with its school, or dojo, located at 3545 West Lake Ave., west of the Edens interchange.

Eisenstein’s belief in karate’s positive effects for Parkinson’s patients is personal; his older brother, Bob, died of complications from Parkinson’s in 2017, after dealing with the disease for 18 years. During that time, Eisenstein found ways to keep his brother as active as possible, since research has shown that exercise helps slow Parkinson’s progress.

“He was very limited in the last few years of his life,” Eisenstein said. “When we would play often it would be using something that he could swing at, or try to hit, and when we did that, I could see him lighting up. So it made me think I might be able to do something to help other people with Parkinson’s.” 

Eisenstein trained as a Parkinson’s-centric boxing instructor before deciding to combine some of that training with his own karate background. He focused on how he could make it as useful as possible to people, wherever they were in their experience with the disease. The result was Breakthrough Karate. 

While Parkinson’s constricts patients’ lives, making them quiet and physically inactive, karate’s strengths are, among others, dynamic, active and loud. (Many of the traditional set movements, some of which are known as katas, involve strong shouts coming from a practitioner’s core, to announce those movements.) 

Not only is the difference striking, Eisenstein said, but striking can make a difference for students with Parkinson’s, he said. 

“People like to hit things, so using targets and drills allow people to make impact and feel like they are comfortable with doing those things,” he said. “It’s a situation where they don’t get injured, but they can still have the fun of smacking things, whacking things, thumping things.”

Eisenstein has a program partner in Jaffe, a longtime patient of his who happened during an appointment to mention his own early experience with karate and a desire to take it up again. The retired reporter, a Deerfield resident, was also personally familiar with Parkinson’s because his father-in-law dealt with the disease.

Together, they worked out how to mold the program to benefit as many people as possible. The result was one that, rather than requiring participants to meet rigid karate goals, allows them to progress at their own speed from whatever point they are in their Parkinson’s journey. 

People in the program may have had active lives and physical skills — golf, tennis, dance, for example — before being diagnosed, and the program takes that into consideration, Eisenstein said. 

“It’s fun to see people realize that they’re still good at some of those things, even though they may have trouble walking or doing their day to day activities, so we find the commonalities and try to build on those strengths, rather than just trying to make everybody do everything,” he said. 

The class lasts one hour each Friday and is free. Participants can take part in person, but those who can’t attend in person because of mobility or other issues can attend virtually.

Jaffe said as many as a dozen Parkinson’s patients are in the program; although the number of participants who take part each week can fluctuate. Sometimes the dojo is full, and sometimes there are only one or two people there.

Because Breakthrough Karate’s class takes place once a week, Eisenstein said he and Jaffe encourage attendees to integrate it into a larger exercise and activity plan for themselves. 

“We encourage people to do what they enjoy, especially since we’re only here on Friday, to find ways of learning things here that they can apply in their other activities,” he said. 

Eisenstein and Jaffe teach class together, one taking charge of the in-person participants while the other handles the virtual attendees. 

Like Eisenstein, Jaffe said rigid rules don’t apply to how he teaches: “One of the messages I stress, and you’ll hear me say it, is that you cannot do karate wrong, you can only do it better. It’s a key component.”

Park Ridge resident Bernadine Ladra, who has attended the class for about six years, remembered how upset she was at her diagnosis, especially “once I realized this was forever.” Her physical therapist told her about Breakthrough Karate, and Ladra decided to try it out; she’s now a regular.  

She laughed slightly when she agreed with Eisenstein that class members like having the opportunity to hit targets, saying, “We enjoy the smacking!”

“I think Steve giving what he gives to us every week, it’s just unbelievable. It’s a blessing. Steve never gives up on you,” she added.

Classmate Michael Gordon, of Glenview, is in his third year with the program. He was looking for some kind of physical activity to replace what he did before being diagnosed with Parkinson’s and said working with Eisenstein and Jaffe has improved his balance. Equally important to him is the camaraderie he feels with classmates.

Program participants do become a support group for each other, Eisenstein said. That sense of community is already a key karate concept, but it has become crucial for Breakthrough Karate members.  

“Everybody in the room has the same issue, even though they have different versions of it, so they can be themselves, they don’t have to cover it up,” he said. “… I used to see a lot of people with a tremor that they would try to conceal it. People here can let it be. They don’t need to hide.”

The support group aspect can be sad, he said, because Parkinson’s progresses no matter what those dealing with it do to hold it off, especially as people with the disease age and encounter other medical difficulties. Despite that, he said, “They come every week and they don’t complain,” he said. 

Jaffe agreed: “I love these people. Karate is hard. It demonstrates their determination and their courage.”

While that may sound somber, the classes are often full of laughter, Jaffe and Ladra said. And Eisenstein grinned when he pointed out one more positive thing about karate:

“People here are very humble, but they also like the idea that they’re doing something that is traditionally a pretty hardcore activity, and that sort of lights them up.

“It’s cool!”

The Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan community newsroom that relies on reader support to fuel its independent local journalism.

Subscribe to The Record to fund responsible news coverage for your community.

Already a subscriber? You can make a tax-deductible donation at any time.