Clinical Trial: Aquatic Therapy for Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's Disease Patients

Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: Effectiveness of Aquatic Therapy for Parkinson's Disease Patients in the Context of a Multidisciplinary, Intensive Rehabilitation Treatment

Brief Summary: Evaluation of the effectiveness of aquatic therapy for the treatment of freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease patients undergoing a multidisciplinary and intensive rehabilitation treatment.

Detailed Summary: Freezing of gait (FoG) is an often dramatic, disabling episodic gait pattern that is common in Parkinson's disease (PD). FoG highly impairs mobility, causes falls, and reduces quality of life. Given the limited effectiveness of both the dopaminergic therapy and the deep brain stimulation on this symptom, it represents a challenge in the field of rehabilitation. In the last years, some studies described the effectiveness of aquatic therapy on balance dysfunction in patients with PD, correlating it to the safe conditions offered by the aquatic environment and to the physical properties of water. Nevertheless, the issues concerning the feasibility and the effectiveness of aquatic therapy for the treatment of FoG have never been addressed before. The aquatic environment may act on the sensorial peripheral receptors, thus widely stimulating the proprioceptive system. PD patients show an altered processing of the proprioceptive information that could potentially underline FoG. The investigators aim at investigating the effects of aquatic therapy for the treatment of FoG in PD patients undergoing a Multidisciplinary Intensive Rehabilitation Treatment (MIRT), whose effectiveness on several motor and functional parameters has been already demonstrated.
Sponsor: Ospedale Generale Di Zona Moriggia-Pelascini

Current Primary Outcome: Freezing of Gait Questionnaire (FOGQ) [ Time Frame: 4 weeks ]

Assess FoG frequency, disturbances in gait and relationship to clinical features conceptually associated with gait and motor aspects.


Original Primary Outcome: Same as current

Current Secondary Outcome: Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale III (UPDRS III) [ Time Frame: 4 weeks ]

Clinician-scored monitored motor evaluation.


Original Secondary Outcome: Same as current

Information By: Ospedale Generale Di Zona Moriggia-Pelascini

Dates:
Date Received: January 7, 2017
Date Started: January 2017
Date Completion: May 2017
Last Updated: January 11, 2017
Last Verified: January 2017