Does a multi-modal intervention program influence sensory systems in persons with parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Background: Persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD) display a progressive decline in function, particularly in postural control. There are however, limited investigations on the sensory deficits contributing to postural dysfunction. The Sensory Organization Test (SOT) is an outcome measure that quantifies the sensory systems. Many researchers implement the SOT in research with persons with PD, however there are limited SOT studies that compare persons with PD to same age community dwelling (CD) adults. In addition, few PD intervention studies have used the SOT as an outcome measure. Objective: To determine if there are significant differences in the SOT between 60-70 year old persons with PD and same age CD adults. Second, to determine if there are significant gains in the SOT after a five-week multimodal intervention program in individuals with PD. Methods and materials: In a one-group pre-post intervention design, twelve participants with PD participated in a five-week multimodal intervention program. Participants completed the pre and post-test SOT protocol, which produced an equilibrium score (ES), composite score (CS) and sensory analysis (SA) ratio score. In addition, ten CD 60-70-yearold adults completed the SOT protocol. Analysis: The Mann-Whitney U test will analyze if there are significant differences in SOT scores between CD 60-70 year old adults compared to same age persons with PD. The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test will analyze if there are significant differences in SOT scores pre and post intervention. IBM SPSS 26 will analyze the data. p value set at <.05 Results: The Mann-Whitney U revealed significant differences between 60-70 year old CD adults and the PD group in SOT ES 1-3 and CS, P<.05 There were no significant differences between pre and post intervention SOT scores. However, condition five ES and the SA vestibular ratio score exhibited large gains from pre to post intervention. Discussion: The comparison results revealed significant difference in static and dynamic postural controls. In PD participants, the vestibular system displays more deficits compared to other sensory systems, but also demonstrates the capacity for larger gains after a multimodal intervention.