International Scholarly Research Notices

Clinical Study

Effects of 6-month, Multimodal Exercise Program on Clinical and Gait Parameters of Patients with Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Study

Table 2

Designed phases of the 6-month, multimodal exercise program with progressive increments on load and complexity for people with Parkinson’s disease (adapted from Tanaka et al. [16]).
PhasesCapacities
CoordinationMuscular ResistanceBalance
Phase 1Upper and lower limbs movements.Exercises without weights.Recreational activities that stimulated the vestibular system.
Phase 2Trunk movements were added to upper and lower limbs movements.Light-weight equipment (hoops, ropes, and batons).Recreational activities that stimulated the visual and vestibular systems.
Phase 3Trunk movements were substituted by head movements.Heavier equipments (barbells, ankle weights, medicine balls).Recreational activities that stimulated the visual and somatossensorial systems.
Phase 4Head, trunk, and upper and lower limb movements.Load was again increased with heavier equipment for resistance training (increase of intensity) or increased repetitions (increased volume).Recreational activities integrated the vestibular, visual, and somatossensorial systems.
Phase 5Four different movement sequences, two of which were the same for upper and lower limbs and two other sequences that alternated movements for upper and lower limbs in place and in movement.Exercises were done with weights: leg press, pulley, seated cable rows, peck deck, and bench press. Load was adjusted according to patients’ convenience (in two series of 15 repetitions).Recreational activities included static balance, dynamic balance, half-turn, and complete turn (all with visual cues).
Phase 6Four sequences of different movements, two sequences of alternating movement for upper and lower limbs and two sequences of different movement for upper and lower limbs, with or without trunk movement and equipment (balloons, balls, hoops, and rope).The same exercises with load increase. Series of 15 repetitions were added.Recreational activities were composed of activities with tactile cues.