A survey of exercise beliefs among people with Parkinson’s disease in Malaysia

Abstract

IntroductionA substantial amount of evidence supports exercise as crucial non-pharmacological management to slow down the progression of Parkinson’s disease. Despite that, people with Parkinson’s disease are still known to be physically inactive. Hence, there is a need to investigate the exercise beliefs and participation benefits so that strategies can be developed to improve their exercise involvement.MethodsOverall, 47 respondents from a non-governmental organization who met the inclusion criteria were recruited purposively to determine their beliefs concerning exercise. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with the use of a self-administered and validated questionnaire.ResultsA significant proportion of the participants (80.9%) believed that exercise could help slow down the progression of Parkinson’s disease; 17% were not sure and only 2.1% answered that exercise did not slow down the disease progression. The majority of the subjects (68%) were more likely to believe that exercise improved balance. Pertaining to the belief in physiotherapy for people with Parkinson’s disease, 76.6% answered yes, 17% were not sure, and 6.4% said that they did not believe in physiotherapy for people with Parkinson’s disease.ConclusionsThe study revealed that most participants believed in exercise and were aware of its usefulness for their condition. However, they also reported that exercise and physiotherapy were not routinely recommended to them. So, still, awareness is needed of the exercise role and participation benefits.