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Evidence summaries

Treadmill Training for Patients with Parkinson's Disease

Treadmill training in patients with Parkinson's disease may improve gait speed and stride length but the length of the effect is not known. Level of evidence: "C"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 18 trials with a total of 633 patients with Parkinson's disease. There was no follow-up in 10 studies, and for the other trials the follow-up was from one to six months. Treadmill training improved gait speed (MD = 0.09 m/s; 95% CI 0.03 to 0.14; 17 studies, n=510), stride length (MD = 0.05 metres; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.09; 10 studies, n=333), but walking distance (MD = 48.9 metres; 95% CI -1.32 to 99.14; 10 studies, n=416) and cadence did not improve (MD = 2.16 steps/minute; 95% CI -0.13 to 4.46; 10 studies, n=336) at the end of study. Treadmill training did not increase the risk of patients dropping out from intervention (RD = -0.02; 95% CI -0.06 to 0.02; 18 studies, n=633). Adverse events were not reported in included studies.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by inconsistency (heterogeneity in patients and interventions) and indirectness (short follow-up time).

References

  • Mehrholz J, Kugler J, Storch A et al. Treadmill training for patients with Parkinson's disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2015;9():CD007830. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords