Sport Climbing With Parkinson's Disease

This controlled interventional study will investigate the effects of a 12-weeks sport climbing course compared to 24 weeks of unsupervised physical exercise on motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease

The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of a 12-week sport climbing course versus unsupervised physical exercise on motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease. Background: Sport climbing (SC) is known as a whole-body workout, which additionally trains cognitive, mental, and social abilities. In contrast to its public image, SC in a controlled environment using "top-rope" belay, is a safe sport and can be performed at any age and at any level. In the field of neurological rehabilitation, it is already used as "therapeutic SC" for other neurological diseases, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, depressions etc. but studies on climbing in PD patients are lacking. Hypothesis: to find significant improvement of motor symptoms in the climbing group compared to the control group as well as biopsychosocial improvements after 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 6 months after the intervention. Methods: Effects of SC on motor symptoms in 48 PD patients in total, who will be randomized into a climbing group (n=24) and a control group (n=24) will be evaluated. The climbing group will follow a 12-week 90 min/week climbing trainings course, led by professional climbing instructors. The control group will receive education/information material of the European physiotherapy guidelines for physical activity recommended by the WHO and will be instructed to follow the recommendation of the guidelines to independently live an active lifestyle and train unsupervised. All patients will be evaluated with clinical assessments at baseline, in between the study period (mid), after completing the 12-weeks study period (post). As additional outcomes, health benefits of SC in PD with a holistic approach, covering biopsychosocial aspects will be investigated. Therefore, non-motoric and motoric parameters will be evaluated, and follow-up assessments 6 months after.