Somatosensory focused balance training without cues can improve balance and gait in early Parkinson’s disease – a randomised pilot study
Sammanfattning
Purpose: To study the effect of Somatosensory Focused Balance Training without Cues, on gait and
balance in people with early Parkinson’s disease.
Materials and methods: This was a randomised pilot study. Twenty-eight community-dwelling people
with early Parkinson’s disease were randomised to immediate or delayed start of a 8w-group training
in a community fitness location. Outcomes were measured at preintervention and postintervention. In
addition, the early start group performed a 6-month follow up. Clinical outcome measures included:
Berg Balance Scale (BBS), BDL Balance Scale, Timed Up and Go, 10 m walk test and the motor part of
Unified Parkinson’s disease Rating Scale. Nonparametric statistics was used for analysis.
Results: Twenty-two participants (10 men, 12 female) were analysed (median age 69, Hoehn & Yahr
2.0). The participants improved significantly in performance of BBS (p ¼ .007), BDL Balance Scale
(p ¼ .005), 10 m walk (p ¼ .012) and mUPDRS (p ¼ .027). At follow up, the improvement had declined.
The small sample size restricts generalisability of the results.
Conclusions: The intervention showed positive effects on balance, gait and mUPDRS, suggesting that
this specific approach should be further explored as a rehabilitation method to delay balance decline
in people in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease.