Scott Hanley: Parkinson's for Time

It began with a hand twitch in 2018.

Then, Scott Hanley’s leg started sticking.

Although the symptoms were mild — at first — test results were conclusive. Hanley’s brain was “deficient in its abilities to generate dopamine.”

“So, short words: You’ve got Parkinson’s disease,” Hanley, 56, says. “And there’s no cure.”

Standard treatments were ineffective at best, and Hanley declined swiftly. His arms and hands became unreliable, and he was kept up at night by painful leg cramps.

Because medication wasn’t working, Hanley took matters into his own hands, researching how to stave off the progression of the disease.

“Be fit and strong,” many sources advised.

So Hanley started exercising. It didn’t take long to notice an improvement in his symptoms — an improvement that was multiplied exponentially after he joined CrossFit Belfast in early 2021.

“Effectively, I would say CrossFit is his medicine,” says Cathy Hanley, Scott’s wife.

By fall, Scott declared himself symptom-free.

“I’m quite surprised that nobody’s talking about this, or it’s not being discussed, ‘cause it worked for that bald guy in Belfast,” Scott says of combating Parkinson’s with CrossFit. “Where’s the downside in going, ‘Give that a go’?”

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