Behavioural and neuroplastic effects of a double-blind randomised controlled balance exercise trial in people with Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Balance dysfunction is a disabling symptom in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Evidence suggests that exercise can improve balance performance and induce neuroplastic effects. We hypothesised that a 10-week balance intervention (HiBalance) would improve balance, other motor and cognitive symptoms, and alter task-evoked brain activity in people with PD. We performed a double-blind randomised controlled trial (RCT) where 95 participants with PD were randomised to either HiBalance (n = 48) or a control group (n = 47). We found no significant group by time effect on balance performance (b = 0.4 95% CI [−1, 1.9], p = 0.57) or on our secondary outcomes, including the measures of task-evoked brain activity. The findings of this well-powered, double-blind RCT contrast previous studies of the HiBalance programme but are congruent with other double-blind RCTs of physical exercise in PD. The divergent results raise important questions on how to optimise physical exercise interventions for people with PD.Preregistration clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03213873.

The impact of aerobic and resistance training intensity on markers of neuroplasticity in health and disease

“…While AT is unequivocally associated with systemic and brain circulatory health in aging, the current data seem to side with the conclusions of previous studies, including reviews, that also failed to support an association between exercise-induced improvements in NP and cognition in HOA (Etnier et al, 2006(Etnier et al, , 2016Forte et al, 2013;Quigley et al, 2020;Sanders et al, 2019;Smiley-Oyen et al, 2008;Voelcker-Rehage et al, 2011;Young et al, 2015). Our data also agree with selected but not all reviews reporting parallel exercise training-induced improvements in inflammation, brain activation, brain structural, and neurochemical markers and selected measures of cognition but no association between the changes in the two sets of outcomes in PwMS, PwPD, and PwST (Crozier et al, 2018;Freidle et al, 2022;Hugues et al, 2021;Ruiz-Gonzalez et al, 2021;Soke et al, 2021).…”

Does Exercise Attenuate Disease Progression in People With Parkinson’s Disease? A Systematic Review With Meta-Analyses

“…Twenty trials (29 pairwise comparisons) involving 1225 participants compared exercise with a control group (ie, no intervention or sham exercise). 6-8,27,28,35-38,43,46-48,53,56,60,63,64,66,68,71,73,74,77 Twenty-four trials (31 comparisons) involving 1044 participants compared 2 different exercise groups. 6,27,33,34,41,42,44,45,49-52,54,55,57-59,61,62,65,67,69-72,75-78…”

Abstracts of the 8th International Conference on Speech Motor Control Groningen, August 2022

“…Results A significant group by time interaction effect on voice sound level was found where the HiCommunication group showed an increase in comparison to the HiBalance group (unstandardized b = -2.1 [95% CI = -3.4, -0.9], p = 0.0012) with the between group Cohen's d estimated to -0.54 (Freidle et al, 2022). The percentage of participants with a clinically relevant increase in voice sound level (≥2 dBC) after intervention with HiCommunication was 59%, CI [41%, 75%]) and after intervention with HiBalance 13%, CI [4%, 28%]).…”