Adaptive Pickleball Class Offers Comfort, Recovery for Patients with Neurological Conditions

If you sit in an Adaptive Pickleball class at the OhioHealth Ontario Health and Fitness Center, you'll see a lot of smiles and encouragement. 

The participants are certainty having fun and getting in a workout, but they're not just there for the sport. 

“We heard about an Adaptive Pickleball Programming that was happening in Columbus and it really sparked our interest because we had pickleball and we had neuro programming, but we never put them together,” said Emily Freeman, exercise physiologist at the Ontario Health and Fitness Center.

Together, the neurological program and sport created Adaptive Pickleball, a pickleball class for people with neurological issues. 

The rules of the sport are the same, but the idea is to create a more comfortable, relaxed atmosphere for people like Rocky Martin.

“She noticed that I was slurring my words a little bit, which I didn’t notice that, and she saw I was dragging this right foot, and I didn’t notice that,” said Rocky, a stroke survivor.

Rocky suffered from not one, but two strokes within two days in 2016. 

Their impact was life changing. 

“I was numb,” said Rocky. “I couldn’t talk, couldn’t eat. Everything had to be thickened for me to get it down.”

Nine years later, after intense rehabilitation, Rocky is back to speaking, eating, and doing many of things he used to do.

His wife, Connie, is a big reason why.

“His right side is where the stroke took the hard effect,” said Connie Martin, Rocky's wife.

A former nurse, Connie's been instrumental in pushing Rocky to keep fighting to gain more of his strength and mobility back.

“He’s shown he’s not one of the statistics,” said Connie.

That drive and determination are more reasons Rocky and Connie show up for Adaptive Pickleball every week.

While the first session of Adaptive Pickleball at the Ontario Health and Fitness Center is now over, exercise physiologists plan to offer another session in February. 

The fitness center also offers other Neurology Wellness Programs, incorporating cardio, strength training, flexibility and balance, and a Parkingson's Wellness Program.