The effect of planned walking on communication in Alzheimer's disease

One of the effects of Alzheimer's disease is a diminution in the ability to communicate. A randomized, non-blinded two-group experimental study was undertaken to determine if planned walking has the capacity to improve the communication performance of patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease. Thirty subjects meeting NINCDS-ADRDA diagnostic criteria for probable Alzheimer's disease, selected from two nursing homes, participated in the study. Intervention and comparison groups were each made up of subjects from both nursing homes. Subjects in one group were walked individually for 30 minutes three times a week for 10 weeks. Subjects in the comparison group were engaged in conversation for the same amount of time for 10 weeks. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed on the communication data. Analysis of the data at post-testing indicated that communication performance improved significantly in the planned walking group over the conversation-only group (f = 4.29; df = 2.28; P = 0.024). The results suggest that a planned walking program has the capacity to improve the communication performance of patients with Alzheimer's disease.