(Press-News.org) HONOLULU – New evidence suggests that walking on a treadmill at a comfortable speed and for longer duration is the most effective exercise to improve mobility in people with Parkinson's disease. That's according to the first randomized trial comparing three types of exercise training in Parkinson's disease. The late-breaking research will be presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, April 9, 2011, in Honolulu.
"Difficulty walking is the greatest cause of disability in people with Parkinson's disease," said Lisa M. Shulman, MD, with the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. "These results have important implications for how we manage Parkinson's disease, since low-intensity exercise can be done by most people with Parkinson's, and our patients frequently ask what type of exercise they should be doing."
In this study, 67 people with Parkinson's disease who had problems with walking were randomly assigned to three types of exercise: high intensity treadmill (greater speed, shorter duration), low intensity treadmill (lower speed, longer duration) or stretching and resistance exercises, which included repetitions of leg presses, extensions and curls.
Participants exercised three times a week for three months and were supervised by exercise physiologists at the Baltimore VA Medical Center. They were tested before and after the training with assessments of distance covered in a six-minute walk, walking speed at 10 meters and 50 feet, general fitness and ratings of their Parkinson's symptoms.
Researchers discovered that low intensity treadmill training resulted in the most consistent improvements in gait and mobility. People who were on the low intensity treadmill training performed better than the two other groups on the distance and speed tests. However, only stretching and resistance training improved the ratings on the Parkinson's disease scale.
"Contrary to evidence suggesting that high intensity exercise is the most effective, our results suggest that a combination of low intensity training and stretching-resistance training may achieve the greatest improvements for people with Parkinson's disease" said Shulman.
###
The study was supported by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, The National Institute on Aging (NIA) Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center NIH grant P30-AG02874, VA Rehabilitation Research & Development Maryland Exercise and Robotics Center of Excellence, and the Baltimore VA Medical Center GRECC.
The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 22,500 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.
For more information about the American Academy of Neurology and its upcoming Annual Meeting, visit http://www.aan.com.
Editor's Note:
Dr. Shulman will be available for media questions during a press conference at 4:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. HST, on Monday, April 11, 2011, in Room 325B of the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu. Please contact Rachel Seroka, rseroka@aan.com, to receive conference call information for those reporters covering the press conference off-site.
Dr. Shulman is available for advance interviews as well. Please contact Rachel Seroka, rseroka@aan.com, to schedule an advance interview.
To access non-late-breaking abstracts to be presented at the 2011 AAN Annual Meeting, visit http://www.aan.com/go/am11/science. Late-breaking abstracts will not be posted online in advance of the meeting and are embargoed until the date and time of presentation at the AAN Annual Meeting in Honolulu or unless otherwise noted by the Academy's Media and Public Relations Department.
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/AANChannel
TEXT: http://www.aan.com/press
TWEETS: http://www.twitter.com/AANPublic
Study: Low intensity treadmill exercise is best to improve walking in Parkinson's
2011-04-13
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Parkinson's exercise study results
2011-04-13
Honolulu, HI – April 12, 2011. Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Baltimore VA Medical Center found that Parkinson's patients who walked on a treadmill at a comfortable speed for a longer duration (low-intensity exercise) improved their walking more than patients who walked for less time but at an increased speed and incline (high-intensity exercise). The investigators also found benefits for stretching and resistance exercises. The study results will be presented April 12 at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology ...
Urgent need to improve quality of outpatient care in public and private sector in poorer countries
2011-04-13
The overall poor quality of outpatient healthcare in both the formal private and public sector in low and middle income countries is worrying—especially given the increasing volume of chronic conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, which require relatively sophisticated, long-term outpatient medical care.
This conclusion, from a review by Paul Garner from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK and colleagues and published in this week's PLoS Medicine, stresses the pressing need for national governments to find and implement effective strategies ...
Corporate links of global health foundations may conflict with philanthropic interest
2011-04-13
Major philanthropic foundations in global health, which often influence and shape the international global health agenda, have links with food and pharmaceutical corporations that could constitute a conflict of interest to the foundations' philanthropic work, reveals a new analysis published in this week's PLoS Medicine.
Professor David Stuckler of Harvard University in Boston, USA, Dr. Sanjay Basu of University of California, San Francisco, and Professor Martin McKee of London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in London United Kingdom, examined the five largest ...
Researchers discover the cause of irradiation-induced instability in materials surfaces
2011-04-13
Cambridge, Mass. – April 12, 2011 – A new discovery about the dynamic impact of individual energetic particles into a solid surface improves our ability to predict surface stability or instability of materials under irradiation over time.
The finding may lead to the design of improved structural materials for nuclear fission and fusion power plants, which must withstand constant irradiation over decades. It may also accelerate the advent of fusion power, which does not produce radioactivity.
Publishing in Nature Communications, Michael Aziz, Gene and Tracy Sykes Professor ...
Maternal stress during pregnancy may affect child's obesity
2011-04-13
WASHINGTON – There is increasing evidence from human and animal studies that offspring of parents who were physically or psychologically stressed are at higher risk of developing obesity, and that these offspring may in turn "transmit" that increased risk to the next generation. Now research conducted at the University of Minnesota and Georgetown University suggests that a mother's nutritional or psychological stress during pregnancy and lactation may create a signature on her child's genes that put the child at increased risk for obesity later in life, especially if the ...
Moderate exercise improves brain blood flow in elderly women
2011-04-13
WASHINGTON – Research conducted at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital's Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine in Dallas suggests that it's never too late for women to reap the benefits of moderate aerobic exercise. In a 3-month study of 16 women age 60 and older, brisk walking for 30-50 minutes three or four times per week improved blood flow through to the brain as much as 15%.
Rong Zhang, the lead researcher in the study, will discuss the team's findings in a presentation titled, "Aerobic exercise training increases brain perfusion in elderly women" at the ...
New compounds show promise against hepatitis C infection
2011-04-13
Approximately 270-300 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C, and about 1%-2% of the U.S. population is infected. This infectious disease can lead to scarring of the liver, cirrhosis, and eventually liver failure. A significant number of infected patients develop liver disease or cancer. The current standard treatment is interferon, which has only a 50% success rate. Compounding the 50% failure rate are severe side effects which lead many people to discontinue treatment.
Dr. Samuel Wheeler French Jr., MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory ...
'Apple a day' advice rooted in science
2011-04-13
Everyone has heard the old adage, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." We all know we should eat more fruit. But why apples? Do they contain specific benefits?
According to Dr. Bahram H. Arjmandi, PhD, RD, Margaret A. Sitton Professor and Chair, Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences at The Florida State University, apples are truly a "miracle fruit" that convey benefits beyond fiber content. Animal studies have shown that apple pectin and polyphenols in apple improve lipid metabolism and lower the production of pro-inflammatory molecules. Arjmandi's most ...
Study: Omega-3 consumed during pregnancy curbs risk for postpartum depression symptoms
2011-04-13
Fish has long been considered in myriad cultures to be "brain food," but only recently has bona fide science begun to support this deep-rooted belief. Researchers now know that the omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish such as salmon and herring may play a critical role in both development and maintenance of the brain and nerves. Although sufficient amounts of these long-chain fats can be synthesized endogenously by most adults, experts recommend that pregnant women and infants get additional amounts of these compounds from their diets. This, combined with research suggesting ...
Use of combination drug regimen for treating TB may represent an effective treatment option
2011-04-13
In patients with newly diagnosed tuberculosis (TB), use of a combined 4-drug fixed-dose regimen was found to have comparable outcomes to drugs administered separately, according to a study in the April 13 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on infectious disease and immunology.
Christian Lienhardt, M.D., M.Sc., Ph.D., of the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, presented the findings of the study at a JAMA media briefing at the National Press Club. Dr. Lienhardt conducted the study while heading the Clinical Trial Division at the International Union Against Tuberculosis ...