Programa de fisioterapia mejora a largo plazo las habilidades motoras en pacientes con enfermedad de Parkinson

The objective of this study is to examine the effect physical therapy on patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD).

Nineteen patients were evaluated with the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). UPDRS is a multidimensional scale composed of four sections: 1) mental state, behavior and attitude; 2) daily activities; 3) motor examination; 4) therapeutic complications and modified Hoehn-Yahr scale. The motor complications caused by the PD have an important effect on physical and functional capacity.

The results relative to motor examination in the stage pre-intervention and post-intervention are shown with the linear regression, using SPSS software version 14.0^®.

Measurements of central trend of the global punctuation reached in the pre-intervention and post-intervention stages are: in the on stage, the average goes from 64.22 ± 16.383 before physical therapy intervention to 50.89 ± 19.499 after the intervention; in the off stage, the value of the average goes from 85.78 ± 12.549 to 75.78 ± 17.745.

Quantitative reduction of muscular strength in the back, hips, ankles, with damage in propioception, visual sense and the lowest support base, are the main causes of instability in patients with Parkinson's Disease.

If the number of sessions (groups 3 and 4) are increased to a range of 7-12, the scores on the motor examination are higher. This indicates that neck stiffness, body posture, balance and gait improve, and this improvement is longer-lasting.