Nordic walking in winter as the multitask training in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Objective To evaluate an influence of 8-week course of winter nordic walking as the multitask on the spatial-temporal characteristics of walking and motor disturbances in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Material and methods Eleven patients (3 men and 8 women, mean age 66.82±3.97 years) with Hoehn and Yahr stage 1 to 2 PD were included in the study. Preliminary medical examination, including the anthropometric profile with the calculation of the body mass index (BMI), the grip strength on the right and left sides, spirometry, functional tests with the physical load (orthostatic test with the determination of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DPB) and type of reaction (normal, hypertonic, hypotonic), the 6 Minute Walk Test, timed Up and Go test), was performed to evaluate the physical state. The evaluation of motor function was performed using the unified Parkinson's disease rating scale of the Movement Disorder Society (MDS UPDRS), part III. A 8-week course of nordic walking training was carried out at the certified track on the stadium localized outside of the city, in the wood and parks area in the winter. Results Compared to the first training, gait velocity increased at the 3rd session, the step length at the 6th. The improvement of the spatial-temporal characteristics of walking was accompanied by the improvement of the motor function as measured by MDS UPDRS, part III. Conclusion Winter nordic walking as multitask is the effective measure of exercise treatment in patients with PD, because it improves the spatial-temporal characteristics of walking and the motor function.