A Case Study of Balance Rehabilitation in Parkinson's Disease

There is evidence to say that balance can be improved by manipulating peripheral sensory inputs. Our hypothesis was, improvement in the inputs from proprioceptors using sensory specific balance training would improve balance. We intend to document the influence of training proprioceptors in improving balance among Parkinsonism. Single case study of a 65 years old parkinson's subject was considered. Trial was designed as a 4 week balance training program. Outcome measures were Berg's balance scale, Multidirectional reach test and CTSIB. Balance was trained by making the subject perform balance exercises standing over a square foam surface which reduces the quality of surface orientation input. Training was given for 15-20 mins/day, 5 days in a week, for a period of 1 month. We observed a 25% increase in values of FFR, BFR, LFR & RFR for multi directional reach test. Overall Berg's balance score improved from 48 to 54. CTSIB assessed before the training showed a poor performance in conditions 5 & 6, post training assessment showed an improvement of 12 seconds for condition 5 and 11 seconds for condition 6. The results suggest that sensory-specific balance exercise has a positive training effect on balance among subjects with Parkinsonism.