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Effect of eccentric-based rehabilitation on hand tremor intensity in Parkinson disease

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Abstract

Background and purpose

Hand tremor is a disturbing yet sometimes resistant symptom in persons with Parkinson disease (PD). Although many exercise regimens for these people have gained attention in recent years, the effect of resistance training and especially eccentric training on parkinsonian tremor is still uncertain. This study was conducted to investigate the precise effect of upper limb eccentric training on hand tremor in PD.

Methods

In this randomized controlled trial, a consecutive sample of 21 persons with PD recruited from general hospitals went through 6 weeks of upper limb pure eccentric training as the intervention group (n = 11) or no additional exercise during this period as the control group (n = 10). Resting and postural tremor amplitudes were measured with the cellphone-based accelerometer.

Results

Comparing hand tremor amplitudes before and after the trial showed a significant reduction in resting tremor amplitude in the intervention group after exercise sessions (p < 0.05) while detecting no changes in the control group during 6 weeks of study. Meanwhile, postural tremor amplitude remained unchanged in both groups.

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Abbreviations

PD:

Parkinson disease

BMI:

Body mass index

RPE:

Rate of perceived exertion

RM:

Repetition maximum

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Discussion and conclusions

Resting hand tremor improvement in response to the training sessions is explainable through possible neuroplasticity effects of exercise. We concluded eccentric exercise is effective in resting hand tremor in PD and may be an important part of rehabilitation in affected individuals.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuromusculoskeletal Research Center, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Firoozgar Hospital, Behafarin St., Karim Khan St., Tehran, Iran

    Mona Kadkhodaie, Safoora Ebadi & Bijan Forogh

  2. Department of Sport Biomechanics and Technology, Sport Sciences Research Institute, No 3, Alley 5, Mir Emad St., Motahari St., Tehran, Iran

    Ali Sharifnezhad

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Sadegh Marzban

  4. Department of Neurology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Seyed Amirhassan Habibi

  5. School of Rehabilitation Science, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Amin Ghaffari

Authors
  1. Mona Kadkhodaie
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  2. Ali Sharifnezhad
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  3. Safoora Ebadi
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  4. Sadegh Marzban
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  5. Seyed Amirhassan Habibi
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  6. Amin Ghaffari
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  7. Bijan Forogh
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ali Sharifnezhad or Bijan Forogh.

Ethics declarations

All participnts of this trial signed the letter of consent, and the ethics of this study was approved by the local ethics committee of the Iran University of Medical Science (reference no. 1395.28471). This trial was registered at (Trial ID: 29803).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Kadkhodaie, M., Sharifnezhad, A., Ebadi, S. et al. Effect of eccentric-based rehabilitation on hand tremor intensity in Parkinson disease. Neurol Sci 41, 637–643 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-019-04106-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-019-04106-9

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