Medical students join alumna’s program to help Parkinson’s patients stay ‘rock steady’ with boxing fitness class

Liberty University alumna Renee (Jones) Shrewsbury (’91) and volunteers from the Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine are helping community members with Parkinson’s disease fight back through a unique wellness program at the YMCA of Central Virginia.

Shrewsbury started Rock Steady Boxing (a non-contact boxing fitness program for Parkinson’s patients) at the YMCA six years ago. The program helps participants maintain and even improve body functions that the sport calls upon, like balance and stamina.

“Essentially, in every area that a boxer trains, it helps to combat one of the symptoms that people with Parkinson’s disease struggle with,” she said. “Balance is a huge issue for those with Parkinson’s, and boxers are constantly shifting their weight from one foot to the other, moving their body in all directions while still having to maintain their balance. Flexibility, agility, all of those things correspond to the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. It’s not a cure — there is no cure for Parkinson’s — but the benefit is significant.”

Rock Steady Boxing is being taught in over 800 locations around the world. Between Shrewsbury and five other coaches, classes are offered three days a week and divided into the four stages of Parkinson’s to address individuals’ needs. There are currently 40 boxers in the program.

Shrewsbury, who studied psychology and participated in multiple intramural sports at Liberty, first joined the YMCA to keep physically active as a mother. Her passion for athletics and fitness eventually led her to becoming a wellness coach and personal trainer there. Around the same time, she had been volunteering at a Parkinson’s-targeted class to help her father-in-law, who had decades of nerve damage from contracting Guillain-Barré syndrome (a rare autoimmune disorder where the immune system attacks peripheral nerves and causes rapid onset, ascending weakness, tingling, and paralysis). Even after her father-in-law’s condition improved, Shrewsbury continued helping in the class, where she learned about the Rock Steady Boxing program. Before long, she began the program at YMCA of Central Virginia.

The unique program also caught the attention of LUCOM students, who have become regular volunteers.

“They’re medical students going into that field, and they’re just really interested in learning more about Parkinson’s disease and what it looks like and how it affects people, but they see it’s so much more,” she said. “A lot of them are surprised by how much our boxers can do, and they see the family-like bond that everyone has. These students coming to us are going to be our future neurologists, future movement disorder specialists, and our future physical therapists who are dealing with this Parkinson’s population … and the boxers also love having all the young energy in the room too.”

The 25 student volunteers take on a variety of tasks each class, holding the boxers’ bags and mitts, offering encouragement, and tending to any boxers who need additional physical support based on their symptoms. They work alongside other volunteers from the community, including two retired physical therapists.

OMS-1 Lexi Hall joined the classes in January, and she said she immediately witnessed the relational atmosphere.

“The boxers’ attitudes are amazing,” she said. “They’re not letting whatever may be happening with their body or with their mind get in their way, and they’re fighting it and doing everything they can to continue to get better. They all are excited to participate and keep working hard, and they encourage one another. It’s so inspiring to know that hard things are going to come at some point in time, but you can always fight back, and you can always keep pushing, and even if life doesn’t look like what you want it to or what you think it should like, you can still have a good time.”

From her perspective as a medical student, she said “it’s great knowing that there are programs out there like this that I can maybe direct future patients to, because I can see the impact it’s making in the lives of the boxers.”

As a medical student interested in musculoskeletal medicine, OMS-II Nathan Cantrell began volunteering a month after starting at LUCOM in in Fall 2024, and his experience with Rock Steady has inspired his career focus.

“I have really begun to appreciate and enjoy the rehabilitation portion of medicine, and I think that that stems from this experience,” he said. “I really want to do physical medicine rehab as a specialty, and because of this experience, I know that it is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Also, while we’re not in the position of a physician-patient relationship right now, being able to come in each time and practice building that rapport with people and earning their trust has been such a blessing.”

Shrewsbury said the sense of purpose and community the boxers experience in each class is just as healing as the physical benefits.

“One of our main purposes is to improve and prolong their quality of life,” she said. “They don’t just have to stay home and wait to get worse and be alone. There’s something they can do. They find community, camaraderie, and support from other people who are going through the same struggles they are. What they’re going through is extremely hard and discouraging and depressing at times, but you don’t see any of that in class. It’s uplifting, it’s encouraging, and it’s fun.”