FITNESS DUO RECOGNIZED AS ON THE BALL
  Their technique featured at world health meeting.
  The Intelligencer—Friday, August 2, 1996

Pleasant Valley – A pair of area fitness experts will be jetting off to Germany next month to demonstrate a unique fitness technique used with senior citizens. The technique, ball therapy, may look like a child’s game but can build posture, balance and stability in those who often have trouble in just standing up.

Fitness specialists Donna Duckworth and Caryl Putchat were recently invited to discuss their technique at the International Congress of Physical Activity, Aging and Sports in Heidelburg, Germany, from Aug. 27–31.

The pair work together in the company Fit Pro-DUCK-tions to take their fitness classes to the elderly, the physically impaired and the mentally impaired throughout a five-county region.

But it was their techniques using the Resist-A-Ball for senior workouts that caught the eye of the World Health Organization, which is sponsoring the international event.

Basically, they provide workouts for seniors using a large, rubberized ball that reaches up to the knees.

The ball has long been used for physical therapy, but its uses as a workout devise are still being explored.

A workout with a ball can be as simple as sitting on it and holding onto a chair or as complex as quicker cardiovascular rolling exercises, Duckworth said.

Just sitting on the ball builds up posture and provides stimulation for muscles that may have been long ignored, she said.

Seniors are gradually taken through a workout that includes attention to a large number of important muscle groups, building coordination and balance as they progress without impact or stress to their bodies.

The instructors have been building up the technique with great success and decided last fall to apply for a spot in the international seminar’s list of progressive activities for senior exercises, Duckworth said.

So they filled out a stack of paper work, plugged it into the mail and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

Finally, last month – after both had pretty much forgotten they’d even applied – a letter came from Germany inviting them to the meeting.

Now, they’re putting together their presentation and trying to decide what to pack for the trip, hoping to do some major sightseeing with their husbands while there. They’ll be paid for their appearance and receive a stipend to help cover travel costs.

"I’m so excited, I just can’t believe it’s happening," said Duckworth, who’s never been to Germany.

Organizers expect from 8,000 to 10,000 fitness experts from around the world to attend the event, she said.

The women started working together five years ago after becoming friends at Duckworth’s fitness center in Quakertown, Workout Plus. After Putchat – who is a gerontologist – started some fitness classes for senior citizens, Duckworth started using the ball in her regular classes and they adapted the exercises for seniors and the physically disables.

The two travel throughout the region, taking their workout to group homes, schools for the blind and other places where people can’t easily get out to attend fitness classes.

Using the ball and other seemingly child-like techniques can have a magical effect on the elderly and handicapped, who often don’t have many opportunities to socialize, Duckworth said.

One in particular sticks in her mind: a 21-year-old blind man with Alzheimer’s disease who easily took to the ball, even learning how to say "ball" and roll it when asked.

"That was the first time I’d seen him smile," she said. "I wanted to cry."

—By James E. Wilkerson

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