Use of objective tools for early detection of Parkinson’s symptoms

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by asymmetrical motor symptoms that are difficult to detect early, thus the need for more sensitive tools. People with early PD (PwPD) participate in high level physical activity, are susceptible to injury, and in need of exercise professionals (EP). However, assessment tools used by EPs for healthy populations may be underutilized in PD. We suggest these tools can quantify early lower extremity (LE) motor impairments otherwise not found during the Five Times Sit to Stand test (FTSTS), commonly used to assess LE strength and function in the rehabilitation setting. PURPOSE: Examine LE asymmetry, force and velocity during the FTSTS using commonly used tools by the EP in PwPD and healthy controls (HC). METHODS: Twenty PwPD (12 male, mean age 68.8 years, mean Hoehn and Yahr stage 2.25) and 11 HC (4 male, age 63.6 years) were tested in blocked order: FTSTS with the Tendo power analyzer and VALD Forcedecks FDLite, and dynamometry of hip and knee strength using VALD DynaMo handheld dynamometer. Statistical analysis includes Descriptives, Spearman’s rho correlation, Mann Whitney U tests and Independent ttests. RESULTS: Spearman’s correlations showed a positive relationship between HY stage and FTSTS time (ρ = 0.577, p = 0.008), indicating that participants with more advanced PD took longer to complete the FTSTS task. A moderate correlation was observed between UPDRS Part III scores and FTSTS time (ρ = 0.440, p = 0.052), suggesting a potential link between motor impairment and functional performance, though this did not reach statistical significance. Mann–Whitney U tests reveal PwPD had significantly greater percent asymmetry in 1-leg sway during single leg stance (p = .011) and hip peak force asymmetry (p = .036) during the FTSTS compared to HC. Slower Tendo average (0.006) and peak velocities, (p = .026) for PwPD were also found during the FTSTS compared to HC. FTSTS time showed a moderate effect with PwPD performing slower than HC (r ≈ 0.4) but did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.090). CONCLUSION: Although the time taken to perform the FTSTS was not different between PwPD and HC, differences were found in asymmetries, force, and movement velocities indicating that these tools are valuable in identifying symptoms in PD not captured by typical use of a common timed measure, the FTSTS.