Effects of Nintendo Wii® training combined with eccentric exercises on tremor in patients with Parkinson's disease: a randomized clinical trial
Parkinson Disease; Virtual Reality; Cognition; Exergames; Tremor.
introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease, chronic and progressive that produces signs such as tremor at rest, alteration in the functionality of upper limbs (MMSS) and cognitive decline, which impact on the performance of activities of daily life. Eccentric exercises have been shown to reduce tremors in people with PD. Nintendo Wii exergames have been used in the rehabilitation of people with PD, promoting improvement in gait, balance and cognition. Objective: To evaluate the effects of a training using Nintendo Wii games in combination with exercises upper limb eccentrics on tremor, upper limb functionality and the cognition of patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD), compared to a training exclusively composed of eccentric upper limb exercises. Method: This is a randomized, controlled, blinded clinical trial with a sample of 30 people with PD randomly allocated nto two groups: Nintendo Wii group combined with eccentric exercises (n=15), who will do 20 minutes of eccentric exercises and 25 minutes training with Nintendo wii, and Exclusive eccentric exercises group (n=15), which will do only eccentric exercises for 45 minutes. Both groups will be trained for 8 consecutive weeks, twice a week, totaling 16 sessions. The groups will be evaluated before training, within 7 and 30 days after the end of training. Preliminary results and conclusions: There was an increase in handgrip strength, tremor reduction and improvement of the functional performance of the upper limbs, mainly in the evaluations performed 7 days after the protocol.