Objective: To examine the effects of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) using a pre-defined protocol for 6 weeks and compare that to a 6-week counseling protocol on balance, and quality of life in subjects with Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Background: In a pilot study conducted by the investigators, a pre-defined 6-week OMM protocol demonstrated improvement in balance in PD subjects defined by the Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (MiniBEST). There was no change in the 6-week counseling control PD group. This project was followed up with a larger cohort of PD subjects and investigated balance and quality of life. This OMM protocol was based on treatment techniques to reduce musculoskeletal restrictions of the spine and extremities that had a positive effect on gait in PD subjects. The counseling protocol consisted of predefined counseling addressing balance and PD quality of life.

Method: 33 subjects completed this study. 18 subjects (age 69 ± 8.8) completed the OMM protocol (6 weeks bi-weekly), 15 subjects (age 72.4 ± 8.8) completed the control counseling (6 weeks bi-weekly). Inclusion criteria included: 1) diagnoses of PD 2)a Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS III) score > 30, and/or MiniBEST score < 19. Subjects who had a history of other neurologic conditions or unable to complete the assessment tools were excluded. Subjects were randomized to receive either bi-weekly OMM treatments using the predefined protocol for 6 weeks or weekly counseling sessions from a medical provider for 6 weeks. Balance and motor function was measured by the MiniBEST, and MDS-UPDRS III. Quality of life was measured using the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) pre-intervention and at the end of Week 6.

Results: A repeated measures ANOVA compared OMM and controls. There was significant improvement in the MiniBEST scores in both the OMM group (p = 0.025) and the counseling group (p = 0.004). There was a significant improvement in the PDQ-39 score in the counseling group compared to the OMM group (p = 0.04)

Conclusion: The data from this study demonstrated that both 6 weeks of OMM and 6 weeks of counseling both improved balance in PD. Our study also supports our counseling protocol as a method to improve quality of life in individuals with PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/osteopathic-manipulative-medicine-to-improve-balance-and-quality-of-life-in-parkinson-disease/