exercise

Best Workout for Brain Health

May 1, 2021 Exercise

We know that exercise is stellar for brain health, and a good sweat can even help generate new neurons in the hippocampus—aka, the brain region associated with memory, learning, and emotions. But when it comes to the different types of movement—running, squats, yoga, et al.—does one workout reign supreme?

Of course, any type of movement that gets your blood flowing is brain-healthy—we like to say here at mbg, the healthiest exercise for you is the one you love. But if neurologists Dean Sherzai, M.D., and Ayesha Sherzai, M.D., had to pick a favorite? Well, it would be stairs. 

The best exercise for brain health, according to the Sherzais. 

In terms of growing BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a molecule that can actually grow brain cells, “leg strength is by far the most important,” notes Dean. In fact, research shows that using the legs, particularly in weight-bearing exercise, sends signals to the brain that are crucial for producing healthy neural cells. Another 2015 study showed that out of 324 healthy older women, those with stronger leg power had fewer brain changes associated with cognitive aging after 10 years. “It’s almost like bigger legs, bigger brain,” Ayesha adds. 

So what, specifically, makes stairs so sublime? Well, not only do they target leg strength (a nod to the research mentioned above), but there’s also an aerobic component to it. Many experts believe aerobic (read: cardio) exercise is the best for your brain since it increases your heart rate, which means it pumps more oxygen to your body and brain. “I think [stairs] may be one of the healthiest exercises that I can think of,” Dean says. 

How long should you climb stairs?

You may be thinking: How long should I climb stairs to reap these benefits? According to the Sherzais, any amount that gets your blood pumping is great for brain health—so the specific time may vary depending on your personal workout habits.  

Of course, you can calculate just how much your heart rate increases (with wearable monitors and the like), but in case you don’t have that tech on hand, Ayesha recommends noticing when you’re out of breath. “As soon as you feel that you have difficulty finishing a sentence, you’re panting, and you’re breaking a sweat, I think that’s a great place to be,” she notes. “That’s a great place where your BDNFs are flushing your body.” 

Although, if you do choose to climb stairs (without a machine, we should add), be super careful trotting down: “There’s more damage to the menisci and the ligaments going down,” Dean notes. So be gentle during your reps.

The takeaway. 

While the Sherzais love a good stair workout for brain health, just remember that the “healthiest” exercise is the one you love—because that means you’ll stick to it consistently. If that happens to be a nonaerobic exercise, like yoga, so be it! You can certainly find some research to tout its positive effects on the brain, too. 
 
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Improving Fine Motor Skills

May 1, 2021 Education, Exercise

A loss of fine motor skills is a common symptom of neurologic conditions. Try these creative ways to improve dexterity or adapt to changes.

Eight years ago, Schuetz’s creative passions were threatened when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and began experiencing worsening tremors in his right hand. Eventually his writing diminished, as did the beautiful lettering he once was so proud of. The loss was a wake-up call, says the 66-year-old resident of Timonium, MD.

“I have a lot to lose if I let this disease take away my hand dexterity,” says Schuetz. “Not only the sense of feeling productive, but a bit of my identity, too. It’s important to keep my hand skills up to par.”

Decreased Dexterity

Parkinson’s disease, with its tremors, freezing, and stiffness, is not the only neurologic condition that can cause hand and finger difficulties like Schuetz’s. For people with essential tremor, the shaking worsens with activity. Those with multiple sclerosis (MS) often experience lack of coordination and hand weakness. Dystonia, a movement disorder that causes uncontrollable muscle contractions, can result in twisted posture and cramping, which can affect hand dexterity. Neuropathies may cause numbness and weakness. And about eight out of 10 stroke survivors experience weakness on one side of the body, including the hand, according to a 2014 study in the Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation.

For people with MS, trouble with dexterity can happen at any stage of the disease, says Michael J. Olek, DO, associate professor of neurology at the Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine in Henderson, NV. “Patients may have trouble with handwriting, using keyboards, and preparing meals.”

Dearth of Studies

Research on how to improve fine motor skills affected by neurologic disorders is minimal, especially compared with research on aerobic exercise, says Lisa M. Shulman, MD, FAAN, distinguished professor in Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Patients often worry more about improving their walking and balance and less about improving dexterity, Dr. Shulman says. “I think that’s because there are many workarounds for weak hands.” For example, people with poor fine motor skills can buy clothing with fewer buttons and zippers and shoes with easy fasteners, she says. They can also pick up prepared meals so they don’t have to cook.

Still, it’s important to focus on dexterity, Dr. Shulman says. She and patients like Schuetz offer the following advice for retaining dexterity or adjusting to its loss.

8 Ways To Address Dexterity

  1. Talk to your doctor. Patients are more likely to tell their doctors about problems with walking than loss of dexterity, says Dr. Shulman. “What I’ve observed is that patients who exercise are almost always using their larger muscles, especially in the lower body, when using a treadmill or stationary bike, which preserves lower body function. Meanwhile, their fine motor dexterity disproportionately worsens.” She encourages all patients to inform their neurologists and health care team about any loss of fine motor skills and ask for help in improving and maintaining function.
  2. Work with an occupational therapist. Physical therapy and speech therapy are more commonly part of a treatment plan than occupational therapy, says Dr. Shulman. “It’s important that neurologists encourage more patients to engage in occupational therapy.” It helps enhance independence, productivity, and safety in all activities related to personal care, leisure, and employment, says Kathy Zackowski, PhD, OTR, senior director of patient management, care, and rehabilitation research at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
  3. Consider writing aids. For many people, the simple task of signing a check or restaurant bill or writing a to-do list becomes problematic. To make writing easier, use a pen grip or fatter pens, advises Rick Schrader, 64, a former software salesman in Herndon, VA, who has hereditary ATTR amyloidosis, a rare condition that affects his nerves and hand mobility. His hands get cold easily and lose sensation, but he still balances his business checkbooks every Saturday. “I don’t write fast anymore, but if I take my time I can still write clearly.”
  4.  Write mindfully. Writing quickly and unthinkingly may result in small, cramped handwriting and tightness in your hand, said Dr. Zackowski. “Try not to rush your writing, and switch to print instead of cursive. Using lined paper provides a guide and forces you to use bigger letters, which helps keep writing more legible.” She adds that using a computer keyboard may be easier if you don’t mind typing. And for those who are used to typing but now find it difficult, many keyboard modifications are available, including a key guard that helps users press the key they want without accidentally pressing other keys.
  5. Use adaptive devices. For assistance when getting dressed, you can use reaching aids, button hooks, zipper pulls, Velcro shoe fasteners, or shoe horns, says Dr. Zackowski. To help with cooking and navigating the kitchen, she recommends tools such as nonskid placemats, utensils with oversized or angled handles, and rocking T knives, which cut food using a rocking motion. In the bathroom, Dr. Zackowski suggests getting a shower chair and a nonskid bath mat and installing grab bars. For grooming, Schrader uses an electric toothbrush and razor. Others may want to install a hands-free hairdryer on the wall or vanity.
  6. Try different utensils. Poor dexterity can make eating with a fork difficult, says Kathy Villella, who has primary progressive MS. Whenever she eats in a restaurant, Villella orders food such as ravioli that is easy to pick up with a spoon. John Martin, 82, of Independence, MO, who was diagnosed with essential tremor in 2008, uses weighted spoons and knives and eats with his left hand because his right hand is more affected by tremors.
  7. Keep fit. Staying active is the key to maintaining function and dexterity, says Carolee J. Winstein, PhD, PT, director of the motor behavior and neurorehabilitation laboratory at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. “Work with your doctor and therapists to find a fitness and exercise plan that will help you maintain function in your hands and fingers.” Schuetz practices yoga, which he says helps him maintain strength and dexterity in his arms and hands.
  8. Improve fine motor skills. To keep his fingers flexible and loose, Schuetz kneads therapy putty, a thick Play-Doh-like paste that varies in pliability from easy to hard. In addition to practicing yoga and kneading therapy putty, Schuetz continues to draw and paint. He says gripping the pencils and paintbrushes strengthens his fingers.

Schuetz also makes rings out of spoons, a hobby he started in the 1970s. Today, it provides another way to stay physically and creatively engaged. He hopes to move beyond rings into small bronze sculptures of yoga poses. “I want to bring together my two main interests—art and yoga—and keep my hands busy and happy.”

Article from Brain & Life Magazine.

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Diet, Nutrition, and Parkinson’s: What you Need to Know

July 1, 2020 Life, Research

Diet and nutrition have been found to play a crucial role in Parkinson’s. In a recent ‘Ending Parkinson’s Disease: Live’ webinar on Parkinson’s EU, Parkinson’s expert Dr Bastiaan Bloem, epidemiologist Dr Alberto Ascherio and Parkinson’s campaigner Omotola Thomas, considered how different foods can affect the risk of diagnosis, maintaining bowel health and more.

We share five key takeaways from their discussion.

1. Which foods can affect your risk of developing Parkinson’s?

Diet, said Dr Bloem, “is a really hot topic in the field of Parkinson’s”. Alongside exercise, diet and nutrition “are the big new kids on the block when it comes to improving symptoms, and perhaps, slowing down the progression of the disease.”

Dr Bloem and Dr Ascherio praised the Mediterranean diet, which varies by country and region, for its potential to lower the risk of developing Parkinson’s. The Mediterranean diet is generally high in vegetables, fruits, grains, healthy fats and fish, and is typically low in meat and dairy. Such a diet is rich in nutrients and antioxidants, making it “better than the traditional Western diet”, according to Dr Ascherio.

On the other hand, Dr Bloem theorised that “a lifetime of exposure to dairy” is associated with a higher risk of developing Parkinson’s, likely due to the pesticides ingested by cattle from contaminated grass.

Dr Ascherio added: “I don’t think that globally, dairy products are known to be a major cause of pesticide exposure. Dairy also has other effects like reducing the level of uric acid in blood, which we found to be related to a risk of Parkinson’s disease.”

2. Could you be malnourished if you have Parkinson’s?

While Dr Bloem pointed out that a regular diet should offer all the necessary nutrients, he did note that vitamin D and vitamin C can be exceptions. “Many people, particularly when you age and particularly when you’re a woman, are at risk of developing a vitamin D deficiency. There are fascinating anecdotal reports of people taking vitamin D and experiencing improved motor symptoms.”

Meanwhile, he explained, vitamin C supplements can help to prevent bladder infections in Parkinson’s patients by acidifying the urine. “Bladder infections can trigger a cascade that leads to worsening Parkinson’s symptoms.”

Dr Bloem also debunked the use of supplements like vitamin E, curcumin and Coenzyme Q190, which have been found to offer no benefits to people with Parkinson’s.

3. How can you maintain your bowel health?

Bowel problems are common in Parkinson’s patients, which Dr Bloem said can be alleviated by drinking a lot of water and eating a diet rich in fibres. People with Parkinson’s should see their general practitioner for laxatives only if all else fails. “The rule is you need to have bowel movements at least once every other day.”

Thomas added: “I have a three litre water bottle that I finish by the end of the day. It is a challenge, but I try to finish it. Because I struggle very greatly with constipation, I take three or four ounces of prune juice in the morning and that seems to help me.”

4. How should you take your Parkinson’s medication?

As food can interfere with the efficacy of levodopa medication, Dr Bloem recommended taking levodopa at least half an hour before or after a meal. In particular, he advised that protein intake be spread across the day.

“For most patients, taking your medication with a protein rich meal including dairy products and meat, can reduce gastrointestinal absorption of your levodopa. So, you need the proteins in order to keep up your muscle strength and avoid weight loss but try to spread the proteins over the day.”

Thomas acknowledged that this can be hard to do. She said: “I have a struggle spreading my proteins with my levodopa because I can’t take more than 15mg of levodopa at a time, so I’m taking it every two hours.

“That is one of those things whereby theoretically, I know what I’m supposed to do, but practically, I’m not able to.”

5. Should a dietician be part of your standard Parkinson’s care?

Yes, said Dr Bloem. “I think paying attention to the gut is part of routine clinical care at every consultation for people with Parkinson’s. Parkinson’s starts in the gut for many patients and slow bowel movements are very common, impacting the efficacy of your medication and appetite for food. It needs attention.”

While a Parkinson’s doctor or nurse can offer useful dietary advice, Dr Bloem himself recommends that his patients see a dietician at least once. “I think it’s part of standard care.”

View the webcast.

View WPA’s “Ask the Expert” video on this topic with Michelle McDonagh, RD, Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin

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Pingpong May Help Reduce Some Parkinson’s Symptoms

March 1, 2020 Life, Research

The game of pingpong, or table tennis, may hold promise as a form of physical therapy for Parkinson’s disease, according to a preliminary study presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 72nd Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada.

The findings show that 12 Parkinson’s patients who participated in a pingpong exercise program once a week for six months experienced improvements in several symptoms, including facial expressions, posture and rigidity. They were also better at getting dressed and getting out of bed.

Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder in which the brain chemical dopamine gradually declines. This process results in slowly worsening symptoms that include tremor, stiff limbs, slowed movements, impaired posture, walking problems, poor balance and speech changes.

“Pingpong, which is also called table tennis, is a form of aerobic exercise that has been shown in the general population to improve hand-eye coordination, sharpen reflexes, and stimulate the brain,” said study author Ken-ichi Inoue, M.D., of Fukuoka University in Fukuoka, Japan.

“We wanted to examine if people with Parkinson’s disease would see similar benefits that may in turn reduce some of their symptoms.”

The research involved 12 individuals with an average age of 73 with mild to moderate Parkinson’s disease. The participants had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s for an average of seven years. They were tested at the start of the study to see which symptoms they had and how severe the symptoms were.

The patients then played pingpong once a week for six months. During each weekly five-hour session, they performed stretching exercises followed by table tennis exercises with instruction from an experienced table tennis player.

The program was developed specifically for Parkinson’s disease patients by experienced players from the department of Sports Science of Fukuoka University.

Parkinson’s symptoms were evaluated again after three months and at the end of the study.

The results show that at both three months and six months, study participants experienced significant improvements in speech, handwriting, getting dressed, getting out of bed and walking. For example, at the beginning of the study, it took participants an average of more than two attempts to get out of bed. At the end of the study, it took an average of one attempt to get out of bed.

Study participants also experienced significant improvements in facial expression, posture, rigidity, slowness of movement and hand tremors. For example, for neck muscle rigidity, researchers assessed symptoms and scored each participant on a scale of 0 to 4 with a score of 1 representing minimal rigidity, 2 representing mild rigidity, 3 representing moderate rigidity and 4 representing severe rigidity. The average score for all participants at the start of the study was 3 compared to an average score of 2 at the end of the study.

Two participants experienced side effects; one person developed a backache and another person fell down.

“While this study is small, the results are encouraging because they show pingpong, a relatively inexpensive form of therapy, may improve some symptoms of Parkinson’s disease,” said Inoue. “A much larger study is now being planned to confirm these findings.”

The main limitation of the study was that participants were not compared to a control group of people with Parkinson’s disease who did not play pingpong. Another limitation was that a single specialist assessed the patients.

Article from Psychcentral.com.

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2019 Parkinson Disease Symposium

August 1, 2019 Caregivers, Community Outreach, Education, Exercise, Facilitators, Support Groups

View photos from the day HERE.

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Heel, Toe: Walking with Mindfulness

July 1, 2019 Exercise, Life

“Mindfulness isn’t difficult, we just need to remember to do it.” — Sharon Salzberg

The ability to walk is something many of us, myself included, have always taken for granted. Now that I have Parkinson’s disease (PD), something that used to come as a matter of course to me is starting to deteriorate. PD has adversely affected my left side more than my right side. I find myself tripping more, since I tend to drag my left foot.

Walking now requires my conscious thought

Going for a walk is now more of a mindful task than an exercise for me. I find it much more therapeutic to focus on how I walk and be in the present moment than to think about the future and how my PD may progress. With each step I take, I concentrate on repeating to myself, “Heel, toe.”

My stride analysis

When there was snow on the ground, I decided to compare my walking steps when I did not focus on saying “heel, toe” with those from when I did. My footprints in the snow were very telling, so I took a photograph. On the left side of the photo are my steps when I was not thinking about my stepping patterns. You might notice that both feet show a bit of a drag in the snow. On the right side of the photo, as I moved forward, I really focused on flexing both of my feet and having my heel strike first. There are no signs of drag on either foot.

Heel, Toe: Walking with Mindfulness

Am I putting too much thought into this?

Years of training to improve as a dancer and a cyclist have made analysis of my body movements come quite naturally to me. Whether it was improving my pedal stroke for more cycling power or perfecting my balance to do pirouette turns, I learned to be mindful and to be in touch with how my body was performing. Now I must use that skill to help myself be more attentive when I walk.

My neurologist says I tend to overthink things. I believe our greatest strengths can also be our greatest weaknesses. Sometimes, I do overthink, to the point of getting paralysis by analysis. However, I believe that mindful analysis of my PD symptoms (including my walking technique) is critical in helping me to create different ways of doing things that at one time (before PD) used to come as second nature to me.

Article by Jean Mellano for Parkinson’s News Today.

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Virtual reality reduced PD symptoms for 10 people

June 1, 2019 Life, Research

A new virtual reality game has helped Parkinson’s sufferers keep walking without losing their balance, falling or struggling to turn.

Over time, the incurable neurodegenerative disease restricts muscles more and more, limiting a person’s mobility, ability to turn and balance. But a new technique developed by researchers at the University of Utah restored dynamic movement in 10 patients who trained on the system three times a week for six weeks.

Experts believe the repetitive activity – walking, running and turning on a treadmill as they hop over virtual objects on a cave-like screen in front of them – helped to keep their muscle memory active and ward off deterioration.

‘The primary advantage is that they can encounter multiple obstacles and terrains while a safe environment is maintained using equipment such as a fall restraint tether,’ said K. Bo Foreman, PhD, associate professor and director of the Motion Capture Core Facility at the University of Utah.

‘Participants enjoyed the experience and thought it was fun, not just exercise. They liked training and challenging themselves without the fear of falling.’

The virtual reality experience is projected onto semi-circle-shaped wall facing the patient, who is on a very wide treadmill. The patient wears a headset, shoes and clothing with sensors on them, and they are tethered to a pole behind them for control.

Some of the tasks seem more straight forward than others – walking straight through a field, for example, rather than jumping up onto the curb of a road. But the fusion of everything together forces patients to exercise various skills which can quickly become challenging, if not impossible, for people with Parkinson’s.

Once we’ve learned to walk, we become adept at nimbly switching from walking to running, from walking straight forward, to walking diagonally to the right. We can speed up or slow down, and step to the left or right, or up or down.

Researchers are still working to fully understand how Parkinson’s restricts movement and gait. There is evidence that the drop in dopamine levels plays a role. However, there is growing evidence that physical activity can stave off the decline. For example, revered actor Alan Alda, who revealed his Parkinson’s diagnosis last summer, has taken up boxing to stay mobile.

Dr Foreman’s team at Utah believe VR, much-hyped for its potential use in clinics, is worth the fan-fare. ‘We are hopeful that this improved performance relates to decreased falls in their everyday life,’ Dr Foreman said. ‘Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disease, and anything we can do to impact the progression is a step in the right direction.’

Article from Daily Mail.

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Turn, stop, then sit: A research-based guide for Parkinson’s patients

May 1, 2019 Awareness, Education, Exercise, Research

Tel Aviv University team studies why patients with Parkinson’s disease have difficulty transitioning from walking to sitting, leading to greater instability and falls

People with Parkinson’s disease — a debilitating degenerative disorder that affects the motor system, causing tremors, shaking and rigidity — are known to have difficulty in turning around and then sitting down.

A new Tel Aviv University study provides an understanding as to why these patients may have difficulty transitioning from walking though turning around to sitting. The results suggest new ways to help improve the rehabilitation of these kind of patients.

“Parkinson’s patients can be challenged when they try to turn as they walk,” said Prof. Jeffrey Hausdorff of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Center for the Study of Movement, Cognition, and Mobility at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.

While most healthy older adults turn and then sit in a precise sequence that clearly distinguishes the two components of the task, in contrast “we found that most Parkinson’s patients start to sit while they are still turning,” he said.

“We originally speculated that, when transitioning from a walking or standing position to a sitting position, people with Parkinson’s would first turn and then start the process of sitting,” Hausdorff said. “But we found that this wasn’t true.”

The research was led by Hausdorff in collaboration with Prof. Anat Mirelman and Prof. Nir Giladi, also of the university and the Tel Aviv Medical Center, and colleagues at Rush University in Chicago. It was published in January in the journal Gait & Posture.

According to the study, when healthy older adults turn to sit, about 80 percent of them complete the turn before starting to sit, in what the researchers called a “distinct strategy.” But in about 20% of the subjects, part of the turning and sitting take place at the same time, in what the researchers called an “overlapping strategy.”

The researchers evaluated the strategies employed by people with Parkinson’s as they transitioned from standing through turning to sitting. In one experiment, 96 participants with Parkinson’s, assessed both on medication and after its effects wore off, were asked to turn to sit while wearing a body-fixed sensor. The researchers then quantified the turning-to-sitting transition and determined whether the distinct or the overlapping strategy had been employed. The use of the sensor revealed subtle but important distinctions that were previously overlooked based on visual observation alone.

The scientists then stratified the cases, using models adjusted for age, gender, height and weight, to identify the associations with their sitting strategies and with the Parkinsonian characteristics and cognition.

“Interestingly, we found that the individuals who employed the overlapping strategy experienced more severe postural instability compared to those who used the distinct strategy,” Hausdorff said.

They also found that anti-Parkinsonian medications did not affect the strategy choice, “suggesting that the decision may be regulated by networks and brain areas that are less directly affected” by the drugs.

Hausdorff said that it is important for people who suffer from Parkinson’s disease and their physical therapists and others to be aware of this issue.

Based on the study, he said in an emailed comment to The Times of Israel, “one can speculate that some of the rehabilitation and continuous care process should be devoted to teaching people with Parkinson’s that when they are turning to sit down, they should break the process into two separate pieces: first turn, briefly stop, and then sit down.”

“This is the way that healthy young and healthy older adults generally carry out this common task,” and they are much less prone to falls than people with Parkinson’s disease, he said.

Stopping along the turn “may, therefore, be safer and less prone to problems than doing this movement all at once,” he said.

Even so, he added, “it remains to be seen” if interventions designed to make this change in the turning process are indeed effective.

Article from Times of Israel.

 

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WPA on The Morning Blend!

April 5, 2019 Awareness, Community Outreach, Education, Life

Jeremy Otte, director of outreach & education, and Dale Luedtke, a musician with Parkinson disease, were featured on The Morning Blend, a morning talk show on TMJ4 Milwaukee. Check it out!

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Exercise can improve non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease

April 1, 2019 Education, Exercise

Exercise has potential to improve non-motor as well as motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), including cognitive function, report investigators in a review published in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease.

PD is a slowly progressive disorder that affects movement, muscle control, and balance. While traditionally regarded as a movement disorder, it is now known to be a heterogeneous multisystem disorder — in recognition of the significant impact that non-motor symptoms have on the quality of life of individuals affected by PD. It is widely acknowledged that physical exercise improves motor symptoms such as tremor, gait disturbances, and postural instability. However, the effect of exercise on non-motor symptoms in PD, especially cognitive function, is less clear.

The number of older people with and without PD that experience cognitive impairment is steadily increasing worldwide. It is associated not only with a substantial rise in healthcare costs, but also affects the quality of life of both patients and relatives or carers. Up to 57% of patients suffering from PD develop mild cognitive impairment within five years of their initial diagnosis, and if they survive more than ten years, the majority will eventually develop dementia. The underlying neurophysiological mechanisms for cognitive decline in PD are not completely understood, but an accumulation of amyloid plaques, mitochondrial dysfunction, and neurotransmitter changes are all suggested to contribute.

A comprehensive literature review was conducted by investigators from the Institute of Movement and Neurosciences, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany, and the VasoActive Research Group, School of Health and Sport Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. The studies reviewed included investigations of the effects of coordination exercise, resistance exercise, and aerobic exercise on domain-specific cognitive function in patients with PD. “Physical exercise is generally associated with increased cognitive function in older adults, but the effects in individuals suffering from PD are not known,” explained lead investigator Tim Stuckenschneider, MA.

The researchers identified relevant studies published before March 2018. There were 11 studies included with a combined total of over five hundred patients with PD with a disease severity from stages 1 to 4 on the Hoehn & Yahr scale, which is used to describe the symptom progression of PD. In four studies, positive effects of exercise on cognition (memory, executive function, and global cognitive function) were shown with no negative effect of exercise on any cognitive domain. Furthermore, disease severity was generally improved by exercise interventions.

The investigators concluded that all modes of exercise are associated with improved cognitive function in individuals with PD, however, no clear picture of which exercise mode is most effective emerged as they may influence cognitive function differently. Aerobic exercise tended to improve memory best, but different forms of exercises such as treadmill training or stationary bike training may have different effects, although both are considered aerobic exercise. Future studies are needed that directly compare the effects of different exercise modes, as the number of high-quality research projects is still limited.

“The potential of exercise to improve motor and non-motor symptoms is promising and may help to decelerate disease progression in individuals affected by PD,” observed Stuckenschneider. “Exercise therapy needs to be, and often already is, an essential part of therapy in individuals with PD. However, it is mostly used to treat motor symptoms. As part of a holistic therapy, the potential of exercise to maintain or improve non-motor symptoms such as cognitive function in individuals with PD needs to be acknowledged, and the most effective treatment options need to be defined. This will not only help practitioners to recommend specific exercise programs, but also ultimately improve the quality of life of the individual. Our work shows that ‘exercise is medicine’ and should routinely be recommended for people with PD to help combat both the physical and cognitive challenges of the disease.”

Article from ScienceDaily.com.

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