Six-Month Community-Based Brisk Walking and Balance Exercise Alleviates Motor Symptoms and Promotes Functions in People with Parkinson's Dis

[Thal]

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/339...

Conclusion: 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

[JayPwP]

JohnPepper here comes the research!

[MBAnderson]

Hail John Pepper

[Bolt_Upright]

Good job Thal!

Abstract

Background: 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.

Objective:

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.

Methods:

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.

Results:

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).

Conclusion:

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.

[Bolt_Upright]

Edited to correct my inattentive comment. 10 supervised sessions, 2 to 3 self practice sessions a week. Thanks Thal!

Methods: 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.

[JohnPepper]

As a Pd patient since 1992at age 58, I had been going to the gym every day since 1988 for one hour, six days a week, doing treadmill, rowing, step-climbing. Between 1992 and 1994 I increased the time to 90 minutes per day. During those lasty 2 years after diagnosis, my conmdition got worse at a faster rate than they had previously. So, I stopped gym for 3 months. Then my late wife persuaded me to join an organization called RUN/WALK for LIFE (RWFL), because she had lost 14 kilograms in weight and had come off her lod pressure and anti depressant pills, whch she had been taking for over 20 years.I Joined RWFLmin 1994 and within3 months my walking speed had improved from 10.5 minutes to less than 9 minutes per Kilometre (K), That was the first improvement imn my condition since I had joined the gym in 1988.

amy speed improved steadily until 2002, whe it reached 6.75 minutes per K. It stayed at that level for a few more years until I started having other medical problems, which stopped me from walking for weeks or sometimes months, but as soon as I was able to walk again I did so, starting at 20 minutes per walk, every second day, as in the past, and slowly built it back to the maximum time allowed atv 1 hour per walk, Those breaks in walking happened several times due to an ITA, Attrial Fibrillation, several other health problems, sinally ending up with Cancer, caused by my Prostate Blands. I had started to walk, at the age of 86, for 20 minutes and slowly built it up to 40 minutes, but other health problems interfered and I am now back to 20 minmutes of walking which was at just over 10 minutes per K.

I am now 87 and still doing the 20 minutes but will try to do 30 minutes from next wekk onwards.

I can say, without any doubt whatsoever that fast walking was responsible for that improvement and it enabled me to come off all Pd medication in 2002. One warnig I must make is _ DON'T WALK FAST FOR MORE THEN I HOUR AND FOR ONLY EVERY OTHER DAY!!! YOU MUST HAVE A ONE DAY BREAK FOR YOUR MUSCLES TO RECOVER!

Good luck with your walkingf!

[Jennyjenny2 in reply to JohnPepper]

Thanks for your continued encouragement, John.

[JohnPepper in reply to Jennyjenny2]

It was my pleasure and it is my whole life!

[pmmargo in reply to JohnPepper]

You are a true hero. Thanks to you I am in much better health than most after 11 years of PD.

[JohnPepper in reply to pmmargo]

I am so pleased. You have made my day! Would you please consider emailing me a short note to send to others to encourage them to do what you have done? My address is [e-mail]

[Bolt_Upright in reply to JohnPepper]

Great point that your improvement started when you REDUCED the amount you exercised. I was on my walk today and wondered "would it help more if I ran instead of walked?" I am sure the answer would be "no".

So the same answers go the the questions "should I walk even further?" "No".

Should I walk every day? No.

Please correct me if I have anything wrong and I will delete this reply.

Thank you so much John!

[JohnPepper in reply to Bolt_Upright]

Your goal is to walk as fast as you can for a maximum of one hour every second day and continue to improve your time per K until you real a plateau. Your physical health will be the best you can ever achieve, as far as Pd is concerned,

Well done!

[Zella23]

My husband has just started a trial looking at changes in micro biome in the gut and looking for early markers in PD at the Royal Free hospital in London yesterday. After 2 hours of tests, blood etc we were both videoed moving exercising and walking. ( me acting as a control)

The researcher commented on my husbands walking saying she can tell he does a lot of walking! Has no gait or freezing episodes and has good balance.

He might not be the fastest at walking but posts I initially saw on HU by John Pepper encouraged us to walk frequently and intermittently going as fast as we can.

[hanifab23 in reply to Zella23]

Keep us posted on the trial

[Zella23 in reply to hanifab23]

Will do - it’s called the Rapsodi trial at the Royal Free Hospital. They are also linking it to genetics. They still need more participants for anyone with PD who is interested. It is about genetic alterations in the GBA gene( which can cause gaucher disease)who are at increased risk of PD, although the vast majority won’t develop it. It is looking for early bio markers in the gut that can lead to PD. rapsodistudy.com

pdfrontline.com

[Sane1]

Another study showing once again that exercise is the best medicine for PD. Just move comrades. Just move as best you can.