Objective: To compare the effects obtained through the European Physiotherapy Guideline (EPG) for Parkinson´s disease (PD) with the Kinect Adventures games training on postural control, cognition and quality of life of PD patients.

Background: EPG for PD was developed by specialists based on the best scientific evidence about the effects of exercises on motor symptoms of the disease. On the other hand, new therapeutic strategies have been shown positive effects on PD, among them the virtual reality training performed through video games. Studies suggested that the video games can promote an integrated motor-cognitive training with potential to improve balance, cognition and independence on daily living activities of PD patients. However, there are no studies that have compared the effects of the EPG with virtual reality training in order to know what is the best intervention strategy.

Methods: A randomized clinical trial was conducted with 15 individuals of both genders with idiopathic PD during period on of dopaminergic replacement, mean age of 64 [standard deviation (SD) 10.5] years, on stages 1 to 3 on the Hoehn and Yahr scale and mean score 52.87 (SD 3.1) on Berg Balance Scale. Intervention of the control group (CG, n=7) was performed in group was based on the EPG and the experimental group (EG, n=8) performed individual Kinect-Adventures-based training (KABT). All subjects performed 14 training sessions twice a week, for seven weeks and both groups were assessed before and after the end of the training and after an interval of 30 days of the end of the intervention (follow-up, FU). Postural control outcomes were Limits of Stability (LOS) and Balance Functional Reserve (BFR) assessed with eyes open and closed. Quality of life and cognition outcomes were Parkinson’s disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), respectively.

Results: EG showed increased scores of the LOS, BFR, PDQ-39 and MoCA after training and FU (P<0.05). CG showed improvement in all measures (P<0,05), except BFR with eyes open.

Conclusions: EPG and KABT showed positive effects on balance, cognition and quality of life PD patients, but it is be necessary to increase the sample size in order to more robust results.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/effect-of-european-physiotherapy-guideline-for-parkinsons-disease-and-microsoft-kinect-adventures-games-training-on-postural-control-cognition-and-quality-of-life-randomized-clinical-tri/