Exercises may curb falls by Parkinson's patients
NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) For some people with Parkinson's disease, a personalized home program of exercises and instructions appears to help prevent them from falling, UK researchers have shown.
Dr Ann Ashburn, of the University of Southampton, and colleagues note in their report that falls are common for people with Parkinson's disease, especially the more elderly patients.
To see if exercises might help reduce the occurrence of falls, the researchers randomly assigned 142 Parkinson's patients to usual care or a home-based exercise and strategy program. All of the participants had had more than one fall in the previous year.
The exercise group received weekly home visits by a physiotherapist for 6 weeks, an exercise program was developed and goals were defined. The participants then continued on their own and received telephone follow-up calls monthly.
The researchers report in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry that ''there was a consistent trend towards lower fall rates in the exercise group at both 8 weeks and 6 months and lower rates of injurious falls needing medical attention at 6 months.'' There were also significantly lower rates of near falling in the exercise group. These patients also showed improved function and quality of life at 6 months.
Dr
Albert
Albanese,
of
the
University
of
Milan,
Italy,
and
author
of
an
accompanying
editorial,
told
Reuters
Health
that
''balance
impairment
and
falls
are
among
the
chief
complaints
in
late
stage
Parkinson's
disease
and
usually
do
not
improve
with
current
anti-parkinsonian
medication
or
with
deep
brain
stimulation.''
He
said,
''Structured
home
exercise
programs
may
be
a
promising
approach
to
train
Parkinson's
disease
patients
to
prevent
falling.''
Reuters
SV
GC0905