Twice a week, 81-year-old Herb Kiyabu is one of the first ones to show up at his 8:30 a.m. boxing class, where he is responsible for passing out name tags to more than a dozen other seniors who, like him, are living with Parkinson’s disease.

Two years ago the Hilo resident became extremely weak and couldn’t walk without the help of a cane or walker. When Kiyabu was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a progressive nervous system disorder, his prognosis wasn’t good. His weight dropped to 99 pounds from 135, and doctors told him he would become more disabled over time. There is no cure for Parkinson’s, which often causes tremors and affects speech.

That’s when he was introduced to Rock Steady Boxing, a high-intensity workout that helped improve his posture, gait, agility and energy level since starting more than six months ago.

“It pushes you to your limit, so it’s helped me. It’s given me lot of good physical training, and it works on the brain, too, so it kind of pushes you to think about what you’re going to do next,” Kiyabu said. “My Parkinson’s is a movement disease, so it’s given me a little more confidence in how I present myself and how I move about. I’ve seen an improvement in my overall physical conditioning. I feel stronger.”

The new kind of therapy for people with Parkinson’s disease that involves noncontact boxing exercises, such as jabbing, punching and sparring, has been shown effective in curtailing the loss of dopamine in the brain, a symptom of the disease, according to Kiyabu’s wife, June, who volunteers as an assistant helpingfrailer boxers spar in the ring.

“It’s good he goes to boxing now, otherwise he would be sleeping the whole day,” she said. “The whole group kind of helps you to be motivated. Seeing and talking to everyone at boxing helps in cheering him up. They kind of push one another along.”

The Hilo Rock Steady Boxing program, which started in October at the Waiakea Recreation Center Boxing gym, is hosting an event at 8:30 a.m. Friday featuring Jon Pawelkop, a retired air traffic controller from Florida with Parkinson’s disease. Pawelkop has traveled around the country since May 2018 promoting the boxing program. Hawaii will be the 49th state he’s visited, with Alaska his final stop.

Rock Steady Boxing started in Indianapolis in 2006 and now has more than 800 groups worldwide that train more than 40,000 Parkinson’s patients. The Hilo program, which is free but accepts donations, has given participants “a lot of hope,” June Kiyabu said.

“We need all the help that we can get to fight the progression of Parkinson’s disease,” she said. “He always feels so grateful that he got Parkinson’s at 79 years old rather than at a younger age when our sons were little. Parkinson’s is just another inconvenience to contend with as he still looks forward to the future with optimism.”

The hourlong program runs Mondays and Fridays. For more information, call 657-4466.