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FROM: Nursing Times Gait training cuts falls in Parkinson's disease NT Online News posted on 23 12 2004 Repetitive training can help patients with Parkinson's disease deal with the postural instability that often leads to falls and even fear of walking, according to new research. A report in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry studied 14 patients who underwent a baseline-training phase, followed by 2 weeks of repetitive postural training for 20 minutes twice daily. The subjects repeatedly underwent analysis of compensatory steps, posture and gait. The patients were given visual feedback on a computer screen showing the actual position of their center of gravity. Subjects' step length increased, gait velocity improved and self-rated mobility scores increased. At 2 months, without further training, the improvements continued to be stable. 'The repetitive training of compensatory steps is an effective approach in the therapy of postural instability and should be applied if postural instability is evident clinically or in patient history,' say the authors. Reference: Jöbges M et al (2004) Repetitive training of compensatory steps: a therapeutic approach for postural instability in Parkinson’s disease J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 75 (12) 1682-1687 http://www.nursingtimes.net/nav?page=nt.news.story&resource=1635124 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn