A Comparison Between Effects of Specific and Nonspecific Exercises on Parkinson's Disease Progression

co-authored by Kyle Manetz

Slowing down the progression of Parkinson’s disease will be compared among patients in an investigation in collaboration with Rock Steady Boxing, an organization that aims to maintain a healthy quality of life for Parkinson’s patients through boxing classes. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the progression of Parkinson’s disease is hindered more with patients performing either non-specific exercises or a Rock Steady Boxing regiment over the course of a year. The NIH Neuro-QoL Toolbox surveys and International Physical Activity Questionnaire were utilized to evaluate quality of life and level of exercise, respectively, in patients with Parkinson's disease. Statistically significant positive associations were found between weekly total exercise and Neuro-QoL superscore (R-squared = 0.169, p=0.024) as well as between weekly high intensity exercise and Neuro-QoL superscore (R-squared = 0.226, p=0.008). Moreover, the mean Neuro-QoL superscore in the Rock Steady Boxing cohort, 0.79854689, was significantly higher than that of the sedentary cohort, 0.70124904 (p=0.05). The data suggests further research of the benefit of Rock Steady Boxing and non-specific exercise in the course of Parkinson's disease progression.