Therapeutic climbing in Parkinson’s disease: Differences in self-reported health and well-being, feasibility and clinical changes

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background Therapeutic climbing (TC) is a whole-body workout that stimulates and improves physical and psychosocial abilities. It has been used in neurological rehabilitation, but there is scarce evidence of specific benefits for people with Parkinson’s (PwP). Objective To investigate and evaluate self-reported differences in health and well-being among trial participants, the overall feasibility of TC and clinical changes caused as a rehabilitation measure for PwP. Methods A 3-level Likert scale survey was completed by 26 PwP (100% response rate) after a TC course (mean 16 sessions) at the Neurological Rehabilitation Center assessing self-perceived differences in health and well-being in terms of physical, psychological, and social parameters. We investigated the feasibility of TC in terms of adherence, practicability and acceptability during a multidisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation program and determined several clinical outcomes (10-meter distance and 2-minute duration walking tests, Functional Gait Assessment, Nine-Hole-Peg tests, and Tinetti Assessment Tool). Results Improvements are based on self-reported perceptions of PwP. We observed an improvement of overall physical (average 65%), psychological (average 59%) and social (average 39%) aspects after TC. PwP improved strength (96%), balance (88%), range of motion (88%), body awareness (85%), physical well-being (77%), and fatigue (75%). Furthermore, they self-reported admiration in their social surrounding (42%) and felt more sociable and outgoing (40%). Concerning adherence, practicability and acceptability, TC seems to be feasible for PwP. Treatment adherence was 100%, 70% declared motivation to continue TC, and 96% intended to recommend TC to peers. Furthermore, PwP showed statistically significant improvements in 10-meter walking tests (T0: 7.5 (1.1–13.9), T1: 6.5 (0.1–12.9); p < .01; n = 16), 2-minute walking tests (T0: 149.5 (−111.0–410.0), T1: 177.0 (−140.7–494.7); p < .01; n = 19), Functional Gait Assessment (T0: 26.0 (−24.8–76.8), T1: 28.0 (2.6–53.4); p < .01; n = 15), and Nine-Hole-Peg tests (left: T0: 26.5 (24.3–28.7), T1: 24.1 (22.0–26.3); p < .01; n = 15; right: T0: 26.7 (24.1–29.2), T1: 23.3 (20.8–25.7); p < .01; n = 15). Conclusion The preliminary findings suggest that TC offers an effective and feasible training method that may positively affect PwP overall perceptions of physical and psychosocial health status. The methodological limitations and small sample size limit the study’s interpretability. More research is needed to definitely show the scientifically significant benefits of TC to PwP.