Regular exercise can ease Parkinson's motor symptoms, fatigue: Study

23 Sep 2024, 12:00 by Margarida Maia, PhD · Parkinson's News Today

Ten consecutive weeks of either high-intensity interval training or continuous training, which is moderate in intensity, effectively eased disease motor symptoms by about 25% and reduced fatigue in adults with Parkinson’s disease taking part in a small study.

These findings further emphasize the significance of exercise as a valuable supportive treatment for Parkinson’s.

A 25% change in symptoms “is a very significant amount that can make a meaningful change to someone’s life,” Philip Millar, PhD, who led the study and is an associate professor of cardiovascular physiology at the University of Guelph in Canada, said in a university news story. “Across any disease, when we think of taking medication, we should equally think of exercise as well.”

Study supports value of exercising whenever ‘we think of taking medication’

In the long run, Millar said, the goal is “to help contribute to greater knowledge of the benefits of exercise for those with Parkinson’s so that clinicians, rehabilitation specialists, community supports, partners and family can help advocate for patients to exercise as much as they should.”

The study, “High-intensity interval versus moderate-intensity continuous cycling training in Parkinson’s disease: a randomized trial,” was published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

Exercise training is recommended for people with Parkinson’s to help them stay active and maintain effective movement and coordination. However, there’s uncertainty as to which type of exercise best addresses both cardiorespiratory fitness — heart and lung health — and Parkinson’s symptoms.

“Prior work found that high intensity interval training may improve how far someone with Parkinson’s can walk but this could be due to becoming more stable or confident in their gait,” Millar said. “It might have had nothing to do with cardiorespiratory fitness and the impact on motor symptoms was previously never studied.”

In its study, Millar’s team compared two types of exercise: high-intensity interval training, which involves short bursts of very intense exercise followed by a rest period, and moderate-intensity continuous training, which involves steady, moderately paced exercise without breaks.

Supported by Parkinson Canada, the study involved 29 male and female patients, ages 45 to 79, who were randomly assigned to either high-intensity interval training or moderate-intensity continuous training three times a week for 10 weeks. Its main goal was to measure changes in cardiorespiratory fitness by looking at the peak oxygen uptake, which reflects the body’s ability to use oxygen during exercise.

Both types of training resulted in improvements in peak oxygen uptake, corresponding to better cardiorespiratory fitness. A greater improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness, however, was seen with interval training compared with continuous training.

Easing in motor symptoms, fatigue reported across two exercise groups

Motor symptoms, measured using Part 3 of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale, and feelings of fatigue, measured by the patient-reported Parkinson’s Fatigue Scale-16, also lessened in both groups over time. There was no significant difference between the two groups, suggesting that exercise, regardless of intensity, helps to ease patients’ motor symptoms and fatigue.

Study results “showed that patients can choose the mode of exercise they are comfortable with, without the fear of losing out on some benefits only achieved through a certain level of exercise,” the news release noted.

High-intensity interval training improved knee muscle endurance more so than moderate-intensity continuous training. This means that patients who engaged in interval training were able to use their knee muscles for longer before getting tired. This could contribute to better mobility and overall physical functioning.

“Both exercise modes improved motor symptoms and subjective fatigue, whereas HIIT [high-intensity interval training] increased the muscular endurance of the knee extensors,” the researchers wrote.