Spaced Physical Therapy Sessions Beneficial for Patients With Parkinson Disease

Scores on the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test at 6 months significantly worsened in patients with Parkinson disease who received burst physical therapy, while patients whose therapy sessions were spaced out over 6 months maintained stable scores. Researchers published findings from their single-center study in Parkinsonism & Related Disorders.

“The optimal timing for physical therapy delivery in Parkinson disease is unknown,” wrote researchers from the University of Florida’s Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases. “Our objective was to determine whether spacing physical therapy visits over a longer period of time is beneficial for maintenance of physical function in Parkinson disease.”

The study randomized 30 patients with Parkinson disease to either 2 physical therapy sessions a week over 6 weeks (burst physical therapy) or to 1 physical therapy session every 2 weeks over 6 months (spaced physical therapy). A total 22 patients, 11 from each arm, completed the study and were included in the analysis.

Compared with baseline, neither group showed clinically significant benefit in TUG score at 6 months, showed study findings. Patients who underwent spaced physical therapy maintained TUG scores between baseline (7.8 ± 1.5s) and 6 months (7.8 ± 2.6s). Those who received burst physical therapy maintained TUG scores between baseline (9.8 ± 3.8s) and 6 weeks (9.1 ± 3.0s), but the scores worsened at 6 months (12.1 ± 7.6s).

“The spaced physical therapy group had stability of the TUG mobility measure at 6 months, while the burst group had a significant worsening once physical therapy was discontinued after 6 weeks,” wrote researchers. “It is feasible to test these approaches in a future larger comparative effectiveness study.”

Reference:
Au KLK, Lopes JLMLJ, Kraus A, et al. A randomized clinical trial of burst vs. spaced physical therapy for Parkinson disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2022;97:57-62. doi:10.1016/j.parkreldis.2022.02.021