Exercise-Induced Functional Changes in People with Parkinson's Disease following External Cueing and Task-Based...

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Physical Therapy
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder impacting motor function.
• LSVT-BIG is an external cueing and task-based intervention for PD.
• Limited research examines clinically meaningful changes from such interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate changes in motor function, gait speed, dynamic balance, balance confidence, and quality of life (QoL) in Parkinson's disease patients undergoing LSVT-BIG.
• To assess the efficacy of LSVT-BIG in improving functional outcomes in individuals with PD.

Main Methods:

• A case series of nine participants with moderate Parkinson's disease (Hoehn and Yahr = 2 or 3).
• Participants completed the LSVT-BIG protocol.
• Outcome measures included motor function (MDS-UPDRS Part III), gait speed, dynamic balance (Mini-BEST), balance confidence (ABC), and QoL (PDQ-SI) assessed at baseline, end of treatment (EOT), and 4 weeks post-treatment (EOT+4).

Main Results:

• 8 of 9 participants demonstrated minimal detectable change (MDC) or minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in at least one outcome measure.
• Improvements were observed in motor function (67-78%), gait speed (67-78%), balance confidence (33-44%), and QoL (44-78%).
• These improvements were evident at EOT and persisted at EOT+4, suggesting a sustained effect of LSVT-BIG.

Conclusions:

• LSVT-BIG intervention led to clinically meaningful improvements in multiple functional domains for most participants with Parkinson's disease.
• The observed improvements suggest a temporal component to LSVT-BIG's impact, with benefits extending beyond the treatment period.
• Future research should focus on clinical trials to further investigate the efficacy of external cueing and task-based interventions, considering factors like intensity and delivery mode.