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Treadmill training with body weight support: Its effect on Parkinson's disease 10 patients with PD (Hoehn & Yahr stage 2.5-3) were randomized to undergo 4 weeks of physical therapy or weight-supported treadmill training for 45 minutes 3 times per week, followed by crossover to the other treatment. Each treadmill session consisted of 12 minutes walking with support of 20% of body weight, followed by 10% support and then 0%, interspersed with rest periods. At the end of the 4-week treatment, total UPDRS, UPDRS-motor, and UPDRS-ADL scores improved more with treadmill training than physical therapy (p<0.0005 for each), with no effect due to order of therapy. Gait speed and stride length also improved more with weight- supported training. All patients preferred the treadmill exercise to standard physical therapy. I Miyai, Y Fujimoto, Y Ueda, H Yamamoto, S Nozaki, T Saito, J Kang Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2000;81:849-52 http://www.wemove.org janet paterson 53 now / 44 dx cd / 43 onset cd / 41 dx pd / 37 onset pd tel: 613 256 8340 url: "http://www.geocities.com/janet313/" email: [log in to unmask] smail: POBox 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada