Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Promotes Gait Training in Parkinson Disease.

Objective: To determine whether priming with 1 or 25Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) will enhance the benefits from treadmill training up to 3 months postintervention in people with Parkinson disease (PD), and to evaluate the underlying changes in cortical excitability.

Methods: This randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted between October 2016 and December 2018. Fifty-one participants with PD were randomized to receive 12 sessions of rTMS (25Hz, 1Hz, or sham) followed by treadmill training.

Long-term effects of exercise and physical therapy in people with Parkinson disease.

Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive, neurodegenerative movement disorder with symptoms reflecting various impairments and functional limitations, such as postural instability, gait disturbance, immobility and falls. In addition to pharmacological and surgical management of PD, exercise and physical therapy interventions are also being actively researched. This Review provides an overview of the effects of PD on physical activity - including muscle weakness, reduced aerobic capacity, gait impairment, balance disorders and falls.

Increased Cognitive Control During Execution of Finger Tap Movement in People with Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Previous studies employed demanding and complex hand tasks to study the brain activation in people with Parkinson's Disease (PD). There is inconsistent finding about the cerebellar activity during movement execution of this patient population.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the brain activation patterns of PD individuals in the on-state and healthy control subjects in a simple finger tapping task.

Effects of Exercise on Falls, Balance, and Gait Ability in Parkinson's Disease: A Meta-analysis.

Postural instability and falls are complex and disabling features of Parkinson's disease (PD) and respond poorly to anti-Parkinsonian medication. There is an imperative need to evaluate the effectiveness of exercise interventions in enhancing postural stability and decreasing falls in the PD population. The objectives of our study were to determine the effects of exercise training on the enhancement of balance and gait ability and reduction in falls for people with PD and to investigate potential factors contributing to the training effects on balance and gait ability of people with PD.

Task- and Context-Specific Balance Training Program Enhances Dynamic Balance and Functional Performance in Parkinsonian Nonfallers: A Randomized Controlled Trial With Six-Month Follow-Up.

Objectives: To investigate the short- and long-term effects of a task- and context-specific balance training program on dynamic balance and functional performance, and to explore the effects on preventing total and injurious falls in parkinsonian nonfallers.

Design: A randomized controlled trial with group allocation single-blinded to the assessor.

Setting: Community centers, malls, and outdoor parks.

Multi-dimensional balance training programme improves balance and gait performance in people with Parkinson's disease: A pragmatic randomized controlled trial with 12-month follow-up.

Introduction: Previous studies have demonstrated that exercise interventions can improve balance and gait performance in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), but most training did not target all balance domains and was conducted mainly indoors.

Objectives: To investigate the short- and long-term effects of a multi-dimensional indoor and outdoor exercise programme on balance, balance confidence and gait performance in people with PD.

Methods: Eligible subjects with PD were randomly assigned to an eight-week indoor and outdoor balance training (EXP, N = 41) group or upper limb exercise (CON, N = 43) group.

Impaired executive function can predict recurrent falls in Parkinson's disease.

Objective: To examine whether impairment in executive function independently predicts recurrent falls in people with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: University motor control research laboratory.

Technology-assisted balance and gait training reduces falls in patients with Parkinson's disease: a randomized controlled trial with 12-month follow-up.

Objective. To examine the effects of technology-assisted balance and gait training on reducing falls in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods.

Balance and Gait Training With Augmented Feedback Improves Balance Confidence in People With Parkinson's Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background Fear of falling has been identified as an important and independent fall-risk predictor in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, there are inconsistent findings on the effects of balance and gait training on balance confidence. Objective To explore whether balance and gait training with augmented feedback can enhance balance confidence in PD patients immediately after treatment and at 3- and 12-month follow-ups.

The mini-BESTest can predict parkinsonian recurrent fallers: a 6-month prospective study.

Objectives: To examine whether the Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Mini-BESTest) independently predicts recurrent falls in people with Parkinson's disease.

Design: The study used a longitudinal cohort design.

Subjects: A total of 110 patients with Parkinson's disease completed the study and were included in the final analysis.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with treadmill training can modulate corticomotor inhibition and improve walking performance in people with Parkinson's disease.

Question: Does adding repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to treadmill training modulate cortical excitability and improve walking in people with Parkinson's disease (PD)?

Design: Randomised controlled trial with blinded outcome assessment.

Setting: A medical centre in Taiwan.

Participants: Individuals with Parkinson's disease (Hoehn and Yahr Stage 2-3), and ability to walk independently were key inclusion criteria.

Effect of externally cued training on dynamic stability control during the sit-to-stand task in people with Parkinson disease.

Background: Previous studies have shown that people with Parkinson disease (PD) have difficulty performing the sit-to-stand task because of mobility and stability-related impairments. Despite its importance, literature on the quantification of dynamic stability control in people with PD during this task is limited.

Objective: The study objective was to examine differences in dynamic stability control between people with PD and people who were healthy and the extent to which externally cued training could improve such control during the sit-to-stand task in people with PD.

Repetitive step training with preparatory signals improves stability limits in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Objective: To examine the effects of repetitive volitional and compensatory step training with preparatory signals on the limits of stability, postural and gait skills, and spatiotemporal gait characteristics in patients with Parkinson's disease with no falls during the previous 12 months.

Design: Randomized clinical trial with assessor blinded to group assignment.

Subjects: Twenty-eight patients with Parkinson's disease with no falls during the previous 12 months.

Reduced step length, not step length variability is central to gait hypokinesia in people with Parkinson's disease.

Objectives: Previous studies found that people with Parkinson's disease (PD) walked at a slower speed and with significantly shorter stride length and/or increase in variability of stride length than control subjects. The present study aimed to examine whether difference existed in amplitude and variability of step length between control and PD subjects if they walked at a similar speed.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study.

Influence of contraction type, speed, and joint angle on ankle muscle weakness in Parkinson's disease: implications for rehabilitation.

Objective: To compare the ankle muscle strength and torque-angle relationship between individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) and participants without impairments.

Design: Cross-sectional, exploratory study.

Setting: Motor control laboratory in a university.

Gait difficulty, postural instability, and muscle weakness are associated with fear of falling in people with Parkinson's disease.

The present study aimed to examine the contribution of gait impairment, postural stability and muscle weakness to the level of fear of falling in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Fifty-seven community-dwelling individuals with PD completed the study. Fear of falling was assessed by the Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale.

Speed-dependent treadmill training is effective to improve gait and balance performance in patients with sub-acute stroke.

Objective: To compare the effects of speed-dependent treadmill training on gait and balance performance in patients with sub-acute stroke.

Design: Single-blinded randomized controlled trial.

Subjects: A total of 26 patients with sub-acute stroke were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 13) and control (n = 13) groups.

Limb collapse, rather than instability, causes failure in sit-to-stand performance among patients with parkinson disease.

Background: Previous studies focused on describing successful sit-to-stand (STS) performance in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). Little is known about why these patients fail to perform this transfer activity. Objective This study aimed to determine the role of dynamic stability and limb support in governing successful STS performance in patients with PD and to determine the limits of recovery for discriminating between successful and failed STS trials.

Reaching and grasping a moving target is impaired in children with developmental coordination disorder.

Purpose: To investigate the performance of reaching and grasping a moving target in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD).

Methods: Sixteen children with DCD and 11 age-matched controls were instructed to reach and grasp a toy car that was sliding down an 8° or 15° slope. Reaction time (RT), movement time (MT), and peak force (PF) were recorded.

Parkinsonian single fallers versus recurrent fallers: different fall characteristics and clinical features.

The study aimed to compare the fall characteristics between parkinsonian single (P-SF) and recurrent fallers (P-RF), and the clinical features among parkinsonian non-fallers (P-NF), P-SF, P-RF and age-matched healthy controls. As many as 72 patients with PD and 74 healthy subjects completed the study. Each subject was evaluated for gait speed, timed up-and-go test, one-leg-stance test, six-minute walk test, five-times-sit-to-stand test, and Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale at baseline.

Fear of falling is independently associated with recurrent falls in patients with Parkinson's disease: a 1-year prospective study.

The present study aimed to examine whether fear of falling (FoF) could independently predict recurrent falls in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Seventy patients with PD completed the study. Thirty-two patients had fallen at least once in the previous 12 months.

Development and validation of the Online Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (OL-RBMT) for people with stroke.

The purpose of this paper was to examine the reliability and validity (concurrent and construct) of a newly developed online Chinese version of the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (OL-RBMT) and its equivalence with the face-to-face version (FTF-RBMT). The OL-RBMT and FTF-RBMT were administered to 30 subjects with stroke in a two-week interval to establish their test-retest reliability, as well as to compare the two tests' equivalence. The OL-RBMT was further compared with another 30 age- and gender-matched, non-stroke patients to establish its construct validity.

Trunk muscle strength, but not trunk rigidity, is independently associated with bone mineral density of the lumbar spine in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Previous literature suggested that muscle forces applied to the skeleton may be an important factor in increasing bone mineral density (BMD). This purpose of this study was to determine whether trunk rigidity and trunk muscle strength were associated with lumbar spine BMD in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Forty-three PD patients and 29 controls participated in this study.

Muscle strength is significantly associated with hip bone mineral density in women with Parkinson's disease: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To study the influence of physical impairments on hip bone mineral density in women with Parkinson's disease.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Subjects/patients: Thirty-four women with Parkinson's disease and 30 age-matched healthy controls.

Balance confidence and functional mobility are independently associated with falls in people with Parkinson's disease.

The present study aimed to examine the association of falls with self-perceived balance confidence level, and balance and mobility performance in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Forty-nine healthy subjects and 71 subjects with PD completed the study. Among the PD patients, 33 (46%) were fallers and 38 were non-fallers.