[New approaches in exercise therapy for Parkinson's disease]. / Neue Ansätze in der Bewegungstherapie bei Morbus Parkinson.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Exercise therapy is an important component in the treatment of motor symptoms in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). In this context, goal-based task-specific training has shown to be particularly effective compared to nonspecific approaches. OBJECTIVE: In this article two novel exercise interventions for targeted improvement of motor function in PD are presented 1) task-specific training with perturbations and 2) combined task-specific and cardiovascular training. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Summary and discussion of the current evidence for both therapeutic approaches. RESULTS: First randomized controlled trials show that perturbation training is an effective task-specific training to improve gait and balance function and potentially reduce falls. Experimental findings on combined cardiovascular exercise and task-specific training suggest that processes of neuroplasticity are enhanced, thereby improving therapy outcomes. However, the quality of evidence for both therapeutic approaches is currently low. CONCLUSION: The presented exercise approaches show promising results in first randomized controlled studies and have the potential to improve treatment outcomes in PD. Further high-quality clinical studies are needed to ensure an effective transfer into practice.