Six-Month Community-Based Brisk Walking and Balance Exercise Alleviates Motor Symptoms and Promotes Functions in...

In Parkinson's disease (PD), sustained aerobic exercise is a promising therapy in delaying motor disability. Brisk walking is a moderate intensity aerobic training, which could be translated to community practice at low cost, but its effects on motor symptoms remains unclear.

To determine the effectiveness of a six-month brisk walking and balance program in alleviating motor symptoms, and promoting functional, gait, and balance performance in people with PD.

Seventy individuals with mild to moderate PD were randomly assigned to a brisk walking (BW) group or an active control (CON) group. BW group received ten 90-minute supervised brisk walking and balance exercise for six months (weeks 1-6: once/week, weeks 7-26: once/month). CON group received upper limb training. Both groups performed 2-3 self-practice sessions weekly. Primary outcome was Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) motor score. Secondary outcomes were fast gait speed (FGS), timed-up-and-go (TUG) time, six-minute walk distance (6MWD), and Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Mini-BEST) score.

Sixty-four participants (33 BW/31 CON) completed training. BW group showed greater significant decreases from baseline than CON group in MDS-UPDRS motor score after six weeks (-5.5 vs -1.6, p < 0.001) and 6 months (-6.0 vs -1.4, p < 0.001) of training. BW group also showed greater significant improvement from the baseline than CON group for TUG time, FGS, 6MWD, and mini-BEST score (all p < 0.05).

The six-month brisk walking and balance program alleviates motor symptoms, promotes functional and gait performance, walking capacity, and dynamic balance in people with mild to moderate PD.