Telerehabilitation for Parkinson's Disease

Gait dysfunction, postural instability, and freezing-of-gait (FOG) ultimately develop in about 80% of PD patients, which lead to falls and advancing disability. This is significant because the consequences of falls are far-reaching: accelerating immobility due to heightened fear-of-falling, reducing quality of life and independence, and increasing healthcare utilization and costs. Thus, there is an urgent need to expand evidence- based outpatient neurologic-PT/OT services to community-dwelling PD patients to reduce fall risk. This research proposal will address this unmet need by determining whether tele-neurorehabilitation is a care model that can be executed safety for PD patients to provide these services from well-trained therapists who are not easily accessible otherwise. This feasibility data is critical in the development of a novel tele-neurorehabilitation protocol and randomized-controlled efficacy trial thereafter. The impact of the intended research is to demonstrate the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of this novel teleconferencing-based delivery of gait and balance exercises/strategies with guided instruction much like one would receive in-person but in the comfort of one's own home. By demonstrating the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of this pilot program, subsequent long-term goals are to apply for larger sources of funding to sustain the program. By leveraging the data gained from these studies it is anticipated the practice of telerehabilitation will be expanded and improved; and ultimately its efficacy to health care policy providers and insurers for potential reimbursement will be demonstrated. The researchers intend to enroll 15-20 individuals with mild-moderate PD into our proposed novel telerehabilitation program, where patients will receive tele-PT/OT home visits and home-safety surveillance with neurologic-specialized therapists who are experienced with the core problem areas seen in PD patients. The intended clinical impact is to improve gait/balance function and postural stability, and thus reduce falls in patients with PD. With the remote telecommunications intervention, we aim to enable the additional clinical impact of expanding access to therapy for people with PD that otherwise would have significant difficulty obtaining this type of multiple-visit, individually-tailored, and specialized therapy care due to travel burden and cost.