Objective: To describe the development process of adaptation of in-person physical exercise program to telemonitoring format to people with Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Background: People with PD has high risk to COVID-19 infection, due to two risk factors, the most frequent age of onset of the first symptoms is over sixty and the presence of neurological disease, added to the high transmission rate of the COVID-19, the social isolation was needed. Since physical exercise is one of the most effective treatment to disease, the telemonitoring is a great option to keep them active and minimize the losses related to inactivity or sedentarism.
Method: We shifted from an in-person physical exercise program to a remote format keeping the program objectives and structure. The in-person sessions were structured as follows: warm-up, balance, aerobic capacity, resistance training, transference and cool down.
Results: The in-person physical exercise program has been transformed into an asynchronous remote format to ensure the participants would be able to perform the physical exercises with a caregiver or family member at home as safe as possible. Each session was delivered by a single video with all six parts with respective prescriptions (as time, sets and repetitions), instructions about safety and alternatives exercises. Besides, two questionnaires were created to investigate attendance, barriers, safety and overall experience of a telemonitoring program.
Conclusion: We conclude the remote physical exercise program based on an in-person physical exercise existing program was created respecting the particularities and needs of individuals with PD. This paper purposed an asynchronous remote format to initiate the telemonitoring program for people with PD, who already carried out an in-person existing program of physical exercise.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
C. Torriani-Pasin, T. Freitas, V. Domingues, B. Araújo, G. Palma, M. Makhoul, R. Andreotti, L. Mochizuki. Development of a remote physical exercise program during COVID-19 pandemic for individuals with Parkinson’s disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2021; 36 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/development-of-a-remote-physical-exercise-program-during-covid-19-pandemic-for-individuals-with-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2021
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/development-of-a-remote-physical-exercise-program-during-covid-19-pandemic-for-individuals-with-parkinsons-disease/