Interview with Nenad Bach (2): “All is happening at the same time, simultaneously, in a beautiful way.”

(Courtesy of BUTTERFLY/TAKUREPO.com/Sentence and photo by Ayako Kawai/In cooperation with Noriko Teramoto)

It is not only table tennis associates who pay attention to the connection between “Parkinson’s disease” and “table tennis.”

Nenad Bach received an invitation to attend the World Parkinson’s Congress held in Kyoto from June 4th to 7th this year. His report on his own experiences was shared by the academics and the doctors from all over the world who are involved in Parkinson’s disease. We can see the extent to which he attracted their interest by the fact that the Congress website posts his video. The editorial team of Table Tennis Report received an inquiry prior to the Congress from a doctor who was to participate to provide the articles for his activities there as we have done in the past on our website.

Nenad Bach will co-operate with the biomedical department in the future.

Dopamine reduces in the brain (the substantia nigra in mesencephalon) when a person suffers from Parkinson’s. It impedes the movement of the body. Therefore, the medical treatment given is usually mainly with the supplemental dopamine therapy and the medicines effective for metabolic enzyme to raise the density of dopamine. Dr. Art Dubow, his principal physician reports that table tennis is good for the building of neurons that create dopamine. However, the mechanism is still unknown.

Nenad Bach will attend a biomedical conference to be held in Croatia at the request of biomedicine specialists. He will help the specialists investigate why table tennis is good for the building of neurons that create dopamine.

“For people with Parkinson’s, everything we need is movement. I don’t shake when I move, but the tremble starts when I stop, so movement is essential. In any sport, I think particularly in table tennis, movement is essential because it is so complex. Spinning ball in the air and you have to hit it on the tangent.

“I could not play the guitar for a while but when I started playing table tennis, I could play again, so it reverses something. I don’t know why. Also, when using a mouse for a computer, I can go up and down easily, but for left and right, it is a bit jerky. With this information, the scientists may understand better and find a clue,” said Nenad Bach.

The situation changed dramatically in the last one year. The staging of the first Parkinson’s World Table Tennis Championships by ITTF was decided, the event will be held in October. In addition, collaboration with the Parkinson’s Congress and the Biomedical Congress is about to start.

“They are all happening at the same time, simultaneously, in a beautiful way,” said grateful Nenad Bach.

This phrase sounds like a brief comment, but it carries his belief and philosophy.