ABSTRACT
Background and Purpose: Parkinson's disease is one of the common debilitating factors in the elderly. It is caused by disorders in the nucleus of cerebral base which control body movements such as walking and body balance. The present research is intended to study and compare the effects of three exercise patterns [rhythmic, medical ball exercising and stretching exercise] on Parkinsonian patients' equilibrium
Methods and Materials: This quasi-experimental study involved the population of Parkinsonian patients in Kashan and Aranobidgol, Iran. Thirty five male patients [61 +/- 3 years old] with minor Parkinson's disease [Stage 3 in Y and H scale] were selected and randomly assigned into one of the three groups: rhythmic group [N=11], medical ball exercising group [N=12] and stretching exercising group [N=12]. All participants took their medications under medical supervision in the study period. Each group performed the assigned pattern for 10 weeks [three onehour sessions each week]. Berg Balance Scaling [BBS] was used for measurements, and dependent t-test, one-way ANOVA and LSD tests were used for data analysis. All analyses were done in SPSS 16
Results: The results showed that the three different exercising patterns [Rhythmic, medical Ball and stretching exercises] had significantly improved patients' equilibrium by 15.7 %, 5.58% and 4.28% respectively [P=0.001]. It also revealed that rhythmic exercises had more considerable effects on Parkinson patients' equilibrium recovery than medical ball [P=0.03], and stretching exercise [P=0.008]. The effect of exercising with medical ball and stretching exercises on Parkinson patients' balance recovery is almost identical, with no significant difference [P=0.530]
Conclusion: Rhythmic exercise patterns cause more considerable effects on the improvement of equilibrium in Parkinson's patients than other patterns