Free online training designed to teach fitness and movement professionals how to safely and effectively meet the needs of people with Parkinson’s disease
The importance of exercise and physical activity for people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been well documented. Exercise produces many benefits including increased physical functioning (motor performance, strength, endurance), improved gait and balance, cardiovascular fitness, and overall better quality of life. As such, great strides are being made to make exercise a part of the standard treatment of PD.
This online training program was developed to help fitness, health, and wellness professionals work safely and effectively with people with PD, building exercise programs that support treatment of their symptoms and improve their quality of life. It covers the signs and symptoms of PD and the specific ways exercise improves them, so you can describe common PD symptoms confidently and explain the benefits of exercise to the people you work with.
The course is organized into two sections. The first, Parkinson’s Disease Overview, covers motor symptoms, non-motor symptoms, and current treatments. The second, Exercise and Fitness for Parkinson’s Disease, works through aerobic, strength, balance, agility, and flexibility exercise, along with safety considerations, program implementation, and a dedicated focus on group exercise — its benefits, and how to run it well.
By the end of the course, you’ll be able to describe common Parkinson’s disease symptoms, explain the benefits of exercise for people with PD, implement effective exercise programs for individuals with PD, and employ strategies to promote safety during both individual and group exercise.
In 2018, APDA convened a panel of PD and exercise experts, including neurologists, movement disorder specialists, and physical therapists, to create an online course to train fitness and movement professionals how to work with people with Parkinson’s. Drs. Terry Ellis, Lee Dibble, Merrill Landers, Tami DeAngelis were instrumental in crafting that course. In 2026, the course was reimagined and redesigned by Drs. Terry Ellis, Tami DeAngelis and Sara Zoeller.
The course takes approximately 1.5 hours and is delivered through instructional videos, with a pre-program learning assessment at the start and a final test and course evaluation at the end. Everyone who completes the training receives a certificate of completion. The course is free, you’ll just need to create an account to enroll and track your progress. If you’ve registered with APDA before, you can sign in and pick up where you left off.
Certificates are issued upon completion of the final test and course evaluation. If you don’t receive yours, please check your spam or junk folder. For additional assistance, contact apdaparkinson@aoic.net.