This document discusses strategies for increasing physical activity in individuals with Huntington's disease (HD). It provides examples of: 1) A man with HD who overcame lack of motivation to train for a half marathon by gradually increasing his running distance over several weeks in achievable mile goals. 2) A carer who set physical activity goals for his wife in the later stages of HD, such as focusing on any amount of activity rather than competitive goals. 3) Suggesting physical activity plans to individuals with HD the night before to give them time to mentally prepare and maintain their routine.

1. Stories from HD Families
Strategies to help increase activity
Stories from HD Families

2. This young gentleman in his thirties, gene positive for HD,
was training for a half marathon and struggled with
motivation. He was able to overcome this by setting himself
achievable goals by increasing running distance gradually.
“Well it’s really difficult to begin
with. I gave myself a mile perhaps
the first few weeks then increased
the intensity to two miles and do it
in stages. And now I’m up to 6
miles with 3 months to go until I
hit the ten miles so...obviously your
mind prevents you from doing a lot
of things, particularly in terms of
exercise...so once you’ve done it then
that’s a barrier and then you keep
going up from there on.”

3. Carers have found it helpful to set goals
with the person with HD in the later stages
like this example of this carer talking about
his wife’s physical activity.
“it’s not getting ‘em to run marathons or
compete in the Olympics it’s purely just giving
them probably a little bit of focus…”

4. Another strategy that has been reported is giving the
person with HD time to digest the idea of being active on
particular days. As people like to maintain the same
routine it can be helpful to make a suggestion prior to
the day of the activity.
“Sometimes if you plant the seed the night before…say
tomorrow we’re going swimming she might spend today
thinking about it therefore, get up and go.”

5. Carer talking about strategies they have
implemented in supporting a lady with mid to late
stage HD to be more physically active.
“Time is one. Making sure we’ve got the time. ‘Cos [name] is
very time orientated, with having to collect [her child] from
school…You know, so you have to be back in time, time is one
thing. Giving her the knowledge of where we’re going, what
we’re going to be doing, is another thing…that is a must. Oh
and having the patience with her. That’s something a lot of
people don’t have. Is the patience for her to do things
independently.”