Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2025 May:134:107777.
doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2025.107777. Epub 2025 Mar 10.

Effect of an adapted physical activity program in Parkinson's disease: A randomized controlled study (APA-Park)

Carole Zanchet  1 , Céline Lambert  2 , Thibaut Boyer  3 , Bruno Pereira  2 , Philippe Derost  3 , Bérengère Debilly  3 , Martine Duclos  4 , Nathalie Boisseau  5 , Ana Marques  6
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effect of an adapted physical activity program in Parkinson's disease: A randomized controlled study (APA-Park)

Carole Zanchet et al. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2025 May.

Abstract

Context: Previous studies assessing adapted physical activity (APA) in Parkinson's disease (PD) have been very heterogeneous regarding methodology and intervention, and have generally not addressed the question of combining various types of physical activity with a long-term evaluation.

Objectives: To evaluate the immediate and long-term effect of a 3-month APA program, combining endurance, resistance training and stretching on motor symptoms, body composition, cardiorespiratory function and metabolic profile in PD patients.

Methods: In this controlled trial, we randomly assigned forty-four PD patients in a 1:1 ratio to receive a 3-month APA program (APA + group, n = 22), or freely practice physical activity (APA- group, n = 22). The patients were evaluated for parkinsonian symptoms (UPDRS-III), body composition, cardiorespiratory function and metabolic profile at baseline, immediately after the end of the program (M3) and six months later (M9).

Results: Between baseline and M3, the mean UPDRS-III score decreased in PD patients from the APA + group whereas it increased in the APA- group (-1.2 ± 6.6 vs. +1.9 ± 8.9; p = 0.04), regardless of age, sex, disease duration, dopaminergic treatment, UPDRS-III and axial score at baseline, but these between group differences waned at M9. No between group difference was observed regarding the evolution of body composition, metabolic profile or cardiorespiratory function between baseline, M3 and M9.

Conclusion: A 3-month APA program combining endurance and resistance training plus stretching is more efficient for improving motor symptoms in PD compared to an unstructured engagement in non-specific physical activities. However, the benefits fade away six months after discontinuation of the program.

Statistical analysis conducted by: LAMBERT Céline, CHU Clermont-Ferrand, DRCI, Biostatistics Unit, Clermont-Ferrand, FRANCE.

Registration number: clinicaltrials.gov number NCT02816619.

Keywords: APA-Park; Adapted physical activity; Motor symptoms; Parkinson's disease; Randomized controlled trial.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Carole Zanchet reports financial support was provided by ORKYN. Carole Zanchet reports financial support was provided by IPESANTE. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Publication types

Associated data