Samba, deep water, and poles: a framework for exercise prescription in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Parkinson's disease is a brain disorder that leads to tremor, slowness, muscle stiffness, and other movement disorders. The benefits of exercise for reducing disability in individuals with Parkinson's disease are numerous. However, not much is known about the designing and prescription of exercise in neurodegenerative diseases. A brief review and indications for exercise prescription and evaluation are discussed throughout. In this scoping review, we specifically aimed to describe the applicability of walking tests (6-min/10-m) for the prescription of exercise in individuals with Parkinson's disease and to propose training (undulating periodized) designs in three exercise modalities, Brazilian dance rhythms (Samba and Forró), deep-water exercises, and Nordic walking. These training models and evaluation methods may assist coaches and therapists in organizing exercise programs adequate to people with Parkinson's disease, and are essential steps toward a comprehensive and more detailed understanding of the training loads in motor disorders and disease states.

Nordic walking and arm swing asymmetry in people with Parkinson’s disease: protocol for a randomised clinical trial

“…Our study protocol provides a structured programme that follows the recommendations for evaluating and intervening with NW in people with PD. 19 Both training programmes (NW and FW) are identical in intensity, volume and duration. Also, we considered all the critical elements for exercise prescription, such as specificity, overload, individualisation and progression.…”

“…Gait intensity will also be modulated by perceived gait speed, using the following descriptors: comfortable: self-selected gait speed; intermediate: between comfortable speed and maximum speed; fast: maximum walking speed; maxima: maximum trot. Training will progress according to the Peyré-Tartaruga proposal, 2022, 19 which considers a systematic increase in the walk duration, speed and intensity. The details of the training prescription for both familiarisation and training of NW and FW are presented in online supplemental table S2 .…”

Brazilian dance self-perceived impacts on quality of life of people with Parkinson’s

“…The project is led by an Associate Professor in Dance and organized by a group of undergraduate and post-graduate students. Since 2016, the “Dance & Parkinson’s” project has promoted dance classes, inspired by the Brazilian rhythms ( Haas et al, 2018 ; Peyré-Tartaruga et al, 2022 ), designed to provide qualitative improvements in the physical and mental health of PwPD. Figure 1 presents the project timeline from March 2016 to December 2021.…”

Telerehabilitation based on dance, balance and locomotion for people with Parkinson's disease: A protocol for a non-randomized clinical trial

“…PD is a neurodegenerative movement disorder characterized by motor symptoms such as rigidity, bradykinesia, tremor, and postural instability [3,4] , as well as non-motor symptoms, including sleep disturbances, neuropsychiatric manifestations and depression [5,6] . Physical activity and exercise are essential complements alongside pharmacological treatment in the management of PD, because they can slow the progression of PD-related symptoms and improve quality of life [7][8][9][10][11][12] . Nevertheless, people with PD still experience a number of barriers to exercise participation, such as fear of falling, fatigue, depression, and lack of knowledge on modifying exercise for PD-related symptoms [13,14] .…”