Journal Club: Assisting Patients with Parkinson's Disease

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Welcome back to the blog and another installment of journal club. It has been quite some time since an article from the neuro world has been featured but I recently ran across a couple of newer ones that I thought were fascinating. So, here is a shout out to all my neuro rehab friends.

This particular article centers on the handling of interventions for patients with Parkinson's disease. We understand that oftentimes patients with PD have motor problems especially when trying to perform other motor or mental tasks. In other words, gait performance can worsen when performing another task which can lead to loss of balance or at worst, a fall. So, this study aimed to assess a standard treadmill training program against a dual task training program to see if executive function could improve.

Improving Executive Function in PD from Journal of Neuro PT

The researchers divided participants into the two groups and went through 16 sessions of training across 8 weeks. Then, outcomes were assessed and compared. As you might have guessed in this randomized controlled trial, the dual task training group displayed improvement in executive function during gait (better able to handle cognitive tasks while moving). And this makes sense. The brain is incredible and through neuroplasticity, when challenged appropriately can and does improve.

Now, one of the interesting things is that this dual training helped with cognitive function during ambulation (better able to safely and continually walk without deviation while thinking and processing), but it did not have a significant impact on layered motor movement. In other words, there was still slow gait when other motor movements were required of the patient.

So this is important information for the treatment of patients with PD. It is very important to incorporate specific dual task cognitive work while exercising/walking, but you must not neglect to continue to work with exercise movement and motor plans for a holistic approach. I encourage you to read the whole article and I hope it benefits your practice.

Jason

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