Vertical locomotion improves horizontal locomotion: effects of climbing on gait and other mobility aspects in Parkinson's disease. A secondary analysis from a randomized controlled trial.

Background: In the Climb Up! Head Up! trial, we showed that sport climbing reduces bradykinesia, tremor, and rigidity in mildly to moderately affected participants with Parkinson's disease. This secondary analysis aimed to evaluate the effects of sport climbing on gait and functional mobility in this cohort.

Methods: Climb Up! Head Up! was a 1:1 randomized controlled trial.

Climb up! Head up! Climbing improves posture in Parkinson's disease. A secondary analysis from a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To investigate the effect of sport climbing on a biomechanical marker of axial posture in patients with Parkinson's disease, as well as its association with age, body mass index and health-related quality-of-life outcome measures.

Design: Pre-planned secondary analysis of our randomized controlled, semi-blind trial (unblinded patients, blinded assessors) comparing sport climbing to unsupervised exercise.

Setting: Single-centre study conducted at the Department of Neurology of the Medical University of Vienna, Austria.

A randomised controlled trial on effectiveness and feasibility of sport climbing in Parkinson's disease.

Physical activity is of prime importance in non-pharmacological Parkinson's disease (PD) treatment. The current study examines the effectiveness and feasibility of sport climbing in PD patients in a single-centre, randomised controlled, semi-blind trial. A total of 48 PD patients without experience in climbing (average age 64 ± 8 years, Hoehn & Yahr stage 2-3) were assigned either to participate in a 12-week sport climbing course (SC) or to attend an unsupervised physical training group (UT).