Long-Term Multimodal Exercise Program Enhances Mobility of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Marcelo Pinto Pereira,Maria Joana Duarte Caetano,Lilian Teresa Bucken Gobbi,Ellen Lirani-Silva,Maria Dilailça Trigueiro De Oliveira Ferreira,Rodrigo Vitório,Florindo Stella,Fabio Augusto Barbieri

doi:10.5402/2012/491718

Marcelo Pinto Pereira, Maria Joana Duarte Caetano + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.5402/2012/491718

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Abstract

Objective. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a long-period multimodal exercise program on balance, mobility and clinical status of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods. Thirty-three PD patients were assigned into two groups: a training group (TG—n=22; aged 67.23±8.39 years) and a control group (CG—n=9; aged 71.56±8.50 years). The TG patients were enrolled in a 6-month multimodal exercise program. This program was designed to improve physical capacity components and to reduce PD impairments. Balance and mobility were assessed immediately before and after the training protocol using the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), the “Timed up and go” (TUG), and the Posture Locomotion Test (PLM). Also, clinical variables were assessed (disease stage and impairments). Results. The TG showed an improvement in the TUG (P=0.006) while CG were not influenced by the 6-months period. Both groups showed no differences for BBS and PLM and for their disease impairments—assessed through the Unified Parkinson’s disease Scale. Conclusions. Long-term multimodal exercise programs are able to improve mobility of patients with Parkinson’s disease and therefore should be used on clinical day life.

Highlights

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second neurodegenerative disease in incidence in people over 60 years old [1]
They were assigned in two groups: a training group (TG; n = 22) and a control group (CG; n = 9)
It was developed to a global improvement of PD patients and was composed of exercises that should simultaneously improve all components of functional capacity, such as flexibility, muscular resistance, motor coordination, and balance

Summary

Introduction

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second neurodegenerative disease in incidence in people over 60 years old [1]. PD patients present a series of non-motor and motor symptoms. The motor features, such as bradykinesia, tremor and rigidity are those which mostly decrease their quality of life [2]. As a consequence of these symptoms, PD patients present mobility impairments and lack of balance, which increase their risk of falls (70% of PD patients fall, at least once within a year [3]). Some have shown that the use of such medicines does not fully improve mobility and balance [12]. The use of some medications for long periods could induce dyskinesia [13], increasing unbalance. Since exercise has shown to be very successful to improve patients’ quality of life, they should be considered [10, 14]

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