Tele-yoga for the management of Parkinson disease: A safety and feasibility trial

Abstract

Objectives Despite current standard treatments, persons with Parkinson disease (PD) still experience motor and non-motor symptoms that impact daily function and quality of life, warranting the investigation of additional interventions. Holistic complementary interventions such as yoga have been shown to be beneficial for persons with PD. However, there are multiple barriers to in-person interventions such as transportation difficulties and disease-related mobility impairments which may be mitigated by digital health applications. Therefore, this study’s purpose was to assess the safety and feasibility of a synchronous tele-yoga intervention for persons with PD. Methods Sixteen participants were enrolled in a single group safety and feasibility trial. The entire study was conducted remotely and consisted of a baseline assessment followed by a six-week waiting period, then a second assessment, a six-week tele-yoga intervention period, a post-intervention assessment, a six-week follow-up period, and lastly a follow-up assessment. During the tele-yoga period, participants completed two one-on-one 30-minute tele-yoga sessions weekly for a total of 12 sessions. Primary outcomes included adverse events, adherence, technological challenges, and usability. Secondary outcomes included enjoyment and clinically relevant outcome measures assessing both motor and non-motor symptoms. Results No severe adverse events were attributed to the intervention. Retention was 87.5%, assessment session adherence was 100%, and intervention session adherence was 97%. Technological challenges did not impact feasibility. The intervention was usable and enjoyable. While this study was not powered or designed to assess the efficacy of the intervention, preliminary improvements were shown for some of the clinically relevant outcome measures. Conclusions Overall, this study showed that the implementation of a synchronous one-on-one tele-yoga intervention was safe, feasible, usable, and enjoyable for persons with PD. Randomized control trials investigating its efficacy should be initiated. The study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04240899, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04240899).

Effectiveness of Live-Streaming Tele-Exercise Intervention in Patients With Parkinson’s Disease: A Pilot Study

“…Our results are in line with the benefits shown in previous home-based or tele-exercise studies using anxiety, depression, and UPDRS Part III scores as outcomes. 12,[26][27][28][29] One randomized controlled trial using mixed aerobic and anaerobic exercise, in parallel with our findings, comprehensively showed improvements in anxiety, depression, fatigue, and motor symptom scores. 30 However, in our study, QoL did not improve following the exercise intervention, unlike several studies that reported significant improvements.…”

“…30 However, in our study, QoL did not improve following the exercise intervention, unlike several studies that reported significant improvements. 26,29,30 Although the benefits of aerobic exercise have been reported in multiple studies linked to mechanisms such as enhanced functional connectivity, 31 neural plasticity, 32 and dopaminergic signaling, 33 only a few studies have evaluated the effects of anaerobic exercise. However, we believe that anaerobic exercises are of paramount importance in maintaining posture and offsetting axial symptoms by strengthening core muscles and addressing range-of-motion limitations through stretching for PwP.…”

Effects of Yoga therapy in teaching oral hygiene practice and tooth brushing skills in patients with Parkinson's disease: A qualitative study

“…(2022) assessed the safety and feasibility of a synchronous tele-yoga intervention for persons with Parkinson's disease and found it to be safe for individuals with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease and elevated anxiety symptoms. [ 26 ]…”

Telerehabilitation by Videoconferencing for Balance and Gait in People with Parkinson’s Disease: A Scoping Review

“…Although 14 studies [8,10,16,19,[25][26][27][28][57][58][59][60][61][62] used telerehabilitation by videoconferencing for PD, of these, only 7 studies [8,10,19,[25][26][27][28] used videoconferencing to both assess and treat balance and gait, as demonstrated in Table 1. Although no study has investigated the implementation of wearable technology into telerehabilitation programs to assess and treat balance and gait remotely, we also created a search term to evaluate this Although 14 studies [8,10,16,19,[25][26][27][28][57][58][59][60][61][62] used telerehabilitation by videoconferencing for PD, of these, only 7 studies [8,10,19,[25][26][27][28] used videoconferencing to both assess and treat balance and gait, as demonstrated in Table 1. Although no study has investigated the implementation of wearable technology into telerehabilitation programs to assess and treat balance ...…”