Central and Peripheral Fatigue in Individuals With Parkinson's Disease - Evaluation and Training

NCT ID: NCT01971528

Last Updated: 2024-03-28

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 66 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2012-12-18
• Study Completion Date: 2015-05-10

Brief Summary

Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms in individuals with Parkinson's Disease (PD). Past research indicated that more than half of the individuals with PD demonstrated fatigue symptom. The severity of fatigue was also correlated to the quality of life in individuals with PD. Finding the contributions of the central and the peripheral factors to fatigue and developing an effective training program for individuals with PD are very important.

Fatigue can be categorized into peripheral or central causes. The central fatigue and voluntary activation failure originate from the decrease in motivation or the reduction of the conduction within corticospinal tracts. Long term activation failure and central fatigue will cause disuse of muscle and result in peripheral weakness and peripheral fatigue. Quantifying the weighting of central versus peripheral factors contributing to the fatigue in people with PD is important.

Most of the conventional strength and endurance training programs were based on the researches of young groups. Almost no training program was design for enhancing the voluntary activation level and relief the central fatigue. Seeking an appropriate training program to enhance central activation is very important for individuals with PD who prone to fatigue.

Previous studies have shown that increasing afferent input by peripheral electrical stimulation (ES) at sensory threshold enhanced the plasticity of contralateral primary sensory cortex, the excitability of corticospinal tracts, and the functional performance in young adults. Combining afferent input with strength training was more effective than strength training along. ES, which is easy to quantify the dose of afferent input, is a feasible method to provide such training.

The purpose of this project is to investigate the effects of the combination of ES at sensory threshold and strength training on voluntary activation in the individuals with PD.

Conditions

Parkinson Disease(PD)

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Stage 1: Health control

pilot study: Establishing the central and peripheral contributing factors to the voluntary muscle strength loss during a fatiguing exercise in young and PD groups.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Stage 1: PD subjects

pilot study: Establishing the central and peripheral contributing factors to the voluntary muscle strength loss during a fatiguing exercise in young and PD groups.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Stage 2: Health subjects

pilot study: Finding optimal sensory stimulation parameters for PD individuals.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Stage 2: PD subjects

pilot study: Finding optimal sensory stimulation parameters for PD individuals.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Stage 3: PD subjects

Investigating the long-term effects of combined sensory stimulating strengthening program on the activation level and central fatigue in PD individuals.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Electronic muscle stimulator

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Participants will perform 8 weeks of electrical stimulation for Quadriceps muscle belly(30 minutes/time, 3 times/week).

Muscle strength training

Intervention Type: OTHER

Participants will perform 8 weeks of isotonic contraction muscle strength training for lower extremities.

Stage 3: PD subjects (Control Subjects)

Investigating the long-term effects of combined sensory stimulating strengthening program on the activation level and central fatigue in PD individuals.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Electronic muscle stimulator

Participants will perform 8 weeks of electrical stimulation for Quadriceps muscle belly(30 minutes/time, 3 times/week).

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Muscle strength training

Participants will perform 8 weeks of isotonic contraction muscle strength training for lower extremities.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Clinical diagnosis of Parkinson disease.

Exclusion Criteria

• Musculoskeletal injuries for knee.
• Osteoporosis.
• Diabetes.

PD subjects:

• Musculoskeletal injuries for knee.
• Osteoporosis.
• Diabetes.
• Any peripheral or central nervous system injury or disease patients.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 20 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 80 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Chang Gung University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Ya-Ju Chang

Associate Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

Chang Gung University

Taoyuan District, , Taiwan

Countries

Taiwan

Other Identifiers

100-3167A3

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id