Effectiveness of a 12-Week Educational Exercise Intervention on Improving Physical Activity, Exercise Capacity, and Symptoms in People with Parkinson’s Disease

Exercise has proven to be beneficial for people with Parkinson’s disease (PwPD), yet many PwPD report reduced desire to exercise due to limited knowledge and resources for PD-specific exercise. This pilot randomized study aimed to compare the effectiveness of 2 different exercise-based educational interventions on physical activity level (metabolic equivalent per min per week (MET/min/wk)), exercise capacity (relative peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) and total work), and symptoms (Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale – Section III (UPDRS-III) and Non-Motor Symptom Scale (NMSS)) in PwPD. It was hypothesized that participants receiving bi-weekly meetings for exercise education and weekly exercise emails would show greater improvements in exercise capacity, physical activity levels, and severity of Parkinson’s disease symptoms upon completion of the 12-week exercise educational intervention compared to the group that only received weekly exercise emails. Fourteen PwPD (mean age of 60±9.61, 64% female) were randomized into 2 exercise education groups: EM (bi-weekly meetings + weekly emails, n = 7) or EO (weekly emails only, n = 7). All participants received weekly emails with PD-centered exercises to try throughout the week. The EM group also received 1-1 bi-weekly meetings for individualized exercise education. Exercise capacity was determined using a graded cycle exercise test (GXT) to measure VO2peak (ml/kg/min) and total work (kJ). Physical activity (PA) level was determined in MET/min per week using the Community Healthy Activities Model Program for Seniors (CHAMPS) survey. PD symptoms were evaluated using standard motor and non-motor clinical scales (UPDRS-III and NMSS). Study endpoints at baseline vs. 12-weeks were compared using repeated-measured ANOVA (p <0.05). Baseline VO2peak was 28.36±4.78 ml/kg/min for EM and 24.47±5.94 ml/kg/min for EO. Both groups improved on average by 1.26 ml/kg/min (p = 0.030) with no difference between groups (p = 0.139). Baseline total work was 72.31±39.80 kJ for EM and 68.97±30.63 kJ for EO. Both groups improved on average by 8.04kJ (p = 0.003) with no difference between groups (p = 0.815). Baseline PA levels were 232.25±92.89 MET/min/wk and 182.97±96.11 MET/min/wk for EM and EO, respectively. There were no significant differences in PA levels within and between groups (p > 0.05). For PD symptoms, UPDRS-III and NMSS scores showed no significant differences within and between groups (p > 0.05). Although there were no statistically significant differences between groups, the EM group typically had larger improvements in exercise capacity, physical activity level, and reduced symptom severity after 12 weeks. Therefore, including regular exercise education and counseling as part of standard care may be clinically important to promote physical fitness and reduce disease severity in PwPD. Future studies should consider testing the feasibility of regular exercise counseling meeting in clinical practice and how it may impact physical functioning and disease severity outcomes in a larger and diverse cohort of PwPD. Chevo Foundation, Sacramento State University. Research Creativity Award 2023-2024. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2025 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.