A qualitative analysis of a progressive resistance exercise programme for people with Parkinson's disease.

PURPOSE: This qualitative study explored the perceptions of adults with Parkinson's disease (PD) about the positive and negative aspects and outcomes of a community-based progressive resistance strengthening programme (PRST), motivators to begin and continue with the PRST program, and factors that might facilitate or create barriers to participation in and completion of a PRST programme. METHODS: Three women and 10 men with PD participated in a 10-week community-based strengthening programme. Participants were interviewed at the end of the programme. A phenomenological theoretical framework and a grounded theory methodology were used to underpin the analysis of these data. RESULTS: Four themes emerged about the participants' experiences of the programme. These were: (i) Motivators for participation in the PRST programme were broader than physical outcomes, (ii) the outcomes were broader than just physical outcomes, (iii) the indicators of success for participants varied, and (iv) the participants' experience of a disease-specific exercise programme was positive. CONCLUSIONS: The outcomes of this study provide insights, not identified through the quantitative results, into the experiences of people with PD, which have implications for clinicians running future strength training programmes for people with PD.

Reconstructive neurosurgery for Parkinson's disease: a systematic review and preliminary meta-analysis.

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to identify the determinants for best practice and establish current benchmarks for recovery following reconstructive neurosurgery for people with Parkinson's disease. Eleven studies reporting results for 95 grafted patients were selected on the grounds of using optimal surgical techniques and the Core Assessment Program for Intracerebral Transplantation (CAPIT) protocol for data collection. Consistent trends demonstrating high levels of recovery were identified on most outcome measures. Determinants for best practice were identified as selecting younger patients; using low dose immunosuppression; bilateral grafting; and employing strategies to ensure the quantity and viability of the grafted cells. Secondary analysis of data demonstrated a correlation of rho=0.666 (P<0.05) between increases in striatal dopaminergic activity and UPDRS Motor (off) scores. Overall effect size 'd' was found to be 1.129 UPDRS Motor (off) condition and 0.719 for UPDRS Total (off) condition. The design of the studies and the variable standards for reporting the data precluded the use of more powerful and accurate meta-analyses. It was recommended that the creation of a collaborative database would improve the extraction of data and allow for more powerful statistical analyses for evaluating the overall harm and benefits associated with reconstructive neurosurgery.