The Effects of a Telehealth Exercise Program on Balance, and Mobility in People With Parkinson's Disease.

The Effect of a Telehealth Exercise Program on Balance and Mobility in People With Parkinson’s Disease By Robert Stone Master of Science in Kinesiology Introduction: Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that causes movement dysfunction such as bradykinesia, rigidity, and postural instability. These symptoms may lead to problems with balance and mobility. Because of this, people with PD are nine times more likely to experience a fall than healthy populations. The consequences of falls are serious and include the risk of fractures, head trauma, and death. Supervised exercise has shown to improve balance and mobility in people with PD. Unfortunately, there are a number of barriers that prevent people with PD from participating in beneficial exercise programs. The field of telehealth utilizes modern, affordable, and convenient communications technology to improve access to care services. It is now possible for people with PD to access one-on-one formal exercise programming by health and fitness professionals in the comfort of their own home through video conferencing. Purpose: To examine the effects of a telehealth exercise program on balance and mobility in people with PD. Methods: Twelve Adults with PD participated in this study. Six people completed a supervised telehealth training program two times per week for twelve weeks and six were enrolled in a self-supervised home exercise program as a control group. Balance was evaluated using the NeuroCom Balance Master Motor Control test and Limits of Stability test. Mobility was evaluated using the Sit to Stand, Walk Across, and Timed Up and Go Test. Results: Overall the telehealth group showed some improvement in all measures. However, no significant changes in balance or mobility were found. The self-supervised group also showed non-significant improvement in some of the measures. Adherence to the program varied widely between the two groups, telehealth had a 96.7% adherence rate compared to 36.8% for the self-supervised group. Conclusions: Program delivery using telehealth technology was effective in increasing adherence to an exercise program. Supervised telehealth exercise may improve balance and mobility for adults with PD.