A Selective Corrective Exercise to Decrease Falling and Improve Functional Balance in Idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease

Background: Posture instability and unsteady gait disorders in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) usually contribute to fall-related fractures. Fall-related trauma in PD is the most common reason for injury. Despite providing modern care for PD patients (PP) in the recent years, anti-PD drugs have no effect on falling. There is an urgent need to administer exercise interventions to reduce falls and related injuries in the rehabilitation program of PP. Objectives: To explore the effect of a selective ۱۰-week corrective exercise with an emphasis on gait training activities (GTA) on the number of falls (NOFs), fear of falling, functional balance, timed up and go (TUG) test among PD patients. Patients and Methods: A purposeful sampling was performed on PP who had fallen or were at risk of falling in ۲۰۱۴. The study intervention consisted of a ۱۰-week (۳ sessions each week, each lasting ۶۰ min) corrective exercise program. Participants were randomly allocated to control and two exercise groups; the exercise group with balance pad (EGBP) or exercise group with no balance pad (EGNBP). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) and paired t-test were used for comparison between the groups (P ≤ ۰.۰۵). Results: Administrating a selective corrective exercise in exercise group with balance pad (EGBP) showed a significant difference in number of falls (NOF), Fall Efficacy Scale-international (FES-I), Berg balance scale (BBS) (and timed up and go) TUG (P = ۰.۰۰۱); while administrating the same exercise in exercise group with no balance pad (EGNBP) showed no significant difference in NOF (P = ۰.۲۲۵) and a significant difference in FES-I (P = ۰.۰۳۱), BBS (P = ۰.۰۴۷) and TUG (P = ۰.۰۱۲). The control group showed no significant difference in each of the dependent variables. Conclusions: Performing a selective corrective exercise on balance pad improves falling and functional balance in idiopathic PD.