Study Rationale: For some people with Parkinson’s disease (PD), turning is an act that can precipitate freezing of gait. We recently developed a turn-specific intervention for people with PD, and preliminary data indicate it may improve mobility, particularly movements that involve turning, during activities of daily life. Whether this intervention can also positively impact freezing of gait is unknown. Given the difficulty that people with PD and freezing of gait exhibit with turning, we seek to examine the effect of a turn-specific physical rehabilitation intervention on freezing severity.
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that six weeks of turning-specific physical rehabilitation will reduce the actual and perceived severity of freezing of gait both in the lab and in daily life in people with PD.
Study Design: We will conduct a pre-phase I, multisite, blinded randomized clinical trial to establish the preliminary efficacy of a turn-specific physical rehabilitation protocol called TURN-IT on observed and perceived freezing severity. We will also assess daily-life mobility to increase the relevance of our findings to in-home ability.
Impact on Diagnosis/Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease: Freezing of gait is a life-altering symptom of PD that leads to reduced quality of life and injury. Current pharmacological, rehabilitative and compensatory strategies are incompletely effective at treating this symptom. Identification of novel rehabilitative interventions to reduce the impact of freezing of gait are urgently needed.
Next Steps for Development: If we observe improvements in freezing of gait in response to the TURN-IT intervention, we will conduct a Phase II, randomized clinical trial to establish effectiveness of this intervention to improve freezing in people with PD who freeze.
Trial Phase: Pre-phase I