Background. Highly challenging exercises have been suggested to induce neuroplasticity in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD); however, its effect on clinical outcomes remains largely unknown. Objective. To evaluate the short-term effects of the HiBalance program, a highly challenging balance-training regimen that incorporates both dual-tasking and PD-specific balance components, compared with usual care in elderly with mild to moderate PD. Methods. Participants with PD (n = 100) were randomized, either to the 10-week HiBalance program (n = 51) or to the control group (n = 49). Participants were evaluated before and after the intervention. The main outcomes were balance performance (Mini-BESTest), gait velocity (during normal and dual-task gait), and concerns about falling (Falls Efficacy Scale–International). Performance of a cognitive task while walking, physical activity level (average steps per day), and activities of daily living were secondary outcomes. Results. A total of 91 participants completed the study. After the intervention, the between group comparison showed significantly improved balance and gait performance in the training group. Moreover, although no significant between group difference was observed regarding gait performance during dual-tasking; the participants in the training group improved their performance of the cognitive task while walking, as compared with the control group. Regarding physical activity levels and activities of daily living, in comparison to the control group, favorable results were found for the training group. No group differences were found for concerns about falling. Conclusions. The HiBalance program significantly benefited balance and gait abilities when compared with usual care and showed promising transfer effects to everyday living. Long-term follow-up assessments will further explore these effects.

Physical activity levels were generally low, in terms of both total volume and intensity, with only minor variations over the course of a day or between days. These results emphasize the need to develop strategies to increase PA and reduce time spent in sedentary behaviors in elderly people with mild to moderate PD.

BackgroundThe aim was to describe levels, patterns and correlates of physical activity and sedentary behavior in a sample of Swedish children, two years of age, with normal weight, overweight and obese parents.MethodsData from 123 children, 37 with normal-weight parents and 86 with overweight/obese parents, enrolled in the Early Stockholm Obesity Prevention Project study was used. Children wore an Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometer for seven days. Average activity (counts per minute), number of steps and time spent in low and high-intensity physical activity and in sedentary was assessed. Differences between weekdays and weekend days were examined as were correlations with sex, body mass index (BMI), motor skills and family-related factors.ResultsChildren were active at high intensity 11% of the day. On average 55% of the day was spent being sedentary. Number of steps and time in low-intensity physical activity differed between weekdays and weekend days: on weekdays, 363 more steps (p = 0.01) and six more minutes in low physical activity (p = 0.04). No differences were found for any physical activity or sedentary behavior variable by sex, BMI, motor skills or any family-related variable (p = 0.07 – 0.95).ConclusionsTwo-year-old children have an intermittent activity pattern, that is almost similar on weekdays and they spend about half of the daytime active. The absence of any association with sex, BMI, motor skills or parental factors indicates that the individual variation in this age group is primarily due to endogenous factors.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov: NCT01198847.

Background Osteoarthritis (OA) is highly prevalent in older adults and a growing cause of disability. Easily accessible first-line treatment of OA is increasingly important. Digital self-management programs have in recent years become available. Evidence of short-term effects of such programs are abundant, yet reports on long-term benefits and adherence to treatment are scarce. The current study's objective was to investigate the long-term pain and function outcomes of people with hip or knee OA participating in a digital self-management programme. Methods and findings In this longitudinal cohort study, individuals with hip and knee OA, from the register of a digital self-management program and with 0-24-week (n = 499) or 0-48-week adherence (n = 138), were included. The treatment effect in terms of monthly pain (NRS, 0-10 worst to best) and physical function (30-second chair stand test (30CST), number of repetitions) change were investigated using a mixed model, controlling for the effect of age, body mass index (BMI), gender and index joint. For the 24-week sub-sample, pain NRS decreased monthly by-0.43 units (95% CI-0.51,-0.35, mean knee pain from 5.6 to 3.1, and hip pain from 5.9 to 3.8) and 30CST repetitions increased monthly by 0.76 repetitions (95% CI 0.64, 0.89 mean for knee from 10.0 to 14.3, and for hip from 10.9 to 14.8). For the 48-week subsample, pain decreased monthly by-0.39 units (95% CI-0.43,-0.36, mean knee pain from 5.7 to 3.2, and hip pain from 5.8 to 3.8), and repetitions increased by 0.72 repetitions (95% CI 0.65, 0.79, mean repetitions for knee from 10.3 to 14.4, and for hip from 11.1 to 14.9). There were no clinically relevant effects on the improvement of pain or function by any covariate (age, sex, index joint). The lack of a control group and randomization limit our ability to explain the mechanisms of the observed results. Conclusions Continuously participating in a digital OA treatment program for 6 or 12 months was associated with a clinically important decrease in joint pain and increased physical function, in hip

This file was dowloaded from the institutional repository Brage NIH -brage.bibsys.no/nih Johansson, E., Ekelund, U., Nero, H., Marcus, C., Hagströmer, M. (2015).Calibration and cross-validation of a wrist-worn Actigraph in young preschoolers. Pediatric Obesity, 10, 1-6.Dette er siste tekst-versjon av artikkelen, og den kan inneholde små forskjeller fra forlagets pdf-versjon. Forlagets pdf-versjon finner du på www. and scored into sedentary, low and high intensity physical activity based on Children´s Activity Rating Scale (CARS) and combined with accelerometer data using a 5 second epoch. Conclusion:Data from a wrist mounted Actigraph activity monitor appears accurate to categorize young preschoolers into physical activity intensity categories.