Husson Students Help Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease Build Strength Through Boxing

Published on: March 5, 2025

Students in Husson University’s Physical Therapy program are working with folks with Parkinson’s Disease to help build strength and community through the Fighting Eagles Boxing Club.

Every Monday, individuals with Parkinson’s from around the Bangor area are welcomed to participate in boxing drills and other athletic exercises with help from student assistants. This also offers students the opportunity to get hands-on experience with physical therapy and rehabilitation in a non-hospital setting.

Participants never hit each other during exercises, instead punching “focus mitts” held by student assistants. The exercises are designed to help boxers build strength and speed, and help to minimize the impacts of Parkinson’s on participants’ mobility.

“We focus on really creating big movements,” said Fighting Eagles co-president Emily Hinckley, a fifth-year PT student. “It’s not really boxing like we’re going hand-to-hand, it’s more just trying to get them to do big forceful movements as it helps with the Parkinson’s symptoms.”

For students, working with the club has offered a chance to get familiar with their field of study on a very deep level.

“It gives us a good insight on working with Parkinson’s patients for when we go on clinicals or when we become practicing clinicians,” said co-president Maddy Zeigler, who is also a fifth-year PT student. “We’re also doing the community a service by having these wellness groups for them.”

The close-knit community feel of the club is perhaps what Fighting Eagles is most proud of creating through their work. It’s a safe and accepting place for their participants to be both active and social.

“What I like most about it is getting to know them as people,” said Jinny Clifton, the Communications Chair of Fighting Eagles and a fourth year physical therapy student. “There are times where we tend to focus more on the diagnosis rather than looking at the whole person in general, but getting to know them on a personal level can create that trust with each other.”

The club has been running for nearly eight years now, outside of Husson’s summer break, under the leadership of staff advisor Sondra Siegel, an associate professor in the School of Physical Therapy. She emphasized the importance of building the drills around the boxers’ needs, and how tight-knit the group has become over the course of their several years of service.

“We have a wonderful group of boxers,” said Siegel. “They are just delightful human beings. I enjoy spending time with every one of them.”

The Fighting Eagles Boxing Club meets from 4pm to 5pm every Monday at Fields4Kids in Bangor, and is open to anyone with Parkinson’s. For more information, or if you’re interested in participating, you can email the group at fightingeaglesboxing@gmail.com or call Sondra Siegel at (207) 941-7049.

— Rin Gately