Physiotherapy and Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is the most commonly performed surgical treatment for individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). DBS typically works best to lessen motor symptoms such as stiffness, slowness, and tremor. Despite an overall improvement of these motor symptoms with DBS, past research failed to show an increase in community mobility and have often reported an increase in falling after surgery. The ability to move around on one's own is important for functional independence and improved quality of life. There is growing evidence supporting the positive effects of physiotherapy on individuals with PD. Gait and balance training, in particular, can improve mobility and also prevent falls. So far, no study has shown the effectiveness of rehabilitation in patients receiving DBS. The purpose of this study is to determine if DBS combined with physiotherapy is effective for improving safe independent mobility in individuals with PD, more so than with patients receiving DBS alone.

This is a single-center, single-blind non-randomized controlled study, whereby individuals receiving DBS will be allocated to receive either physiotherapy or no intervention in keeping with current practice (control group). Patients will be recruited from a pool of PD patients who have been identified as candidates for DBS in the Movement Disorders Clinics at the Toronto Western Hospital. Approximately 60 individuals will be recruited for the study. Study participation will span 8 months from the time of enrolment to the end of the study assessment. Participants will be allocated to one of two groups: 1) physiotherapy, or 2) control. Participants living within 50 km of the physiotherapy clinic will be allocated to the physiotherapy group and those living beyond 50 km will be allocated to the control group. Participants assigned to the physiotherapy group will receive physiotherapy treatment at the One Step Ahead Mobility physiotherapy clinic for 1 hour per day, 3 times/week for 8 weeks. Participants assigned to the control group will not receive any additional intervention and will be precluded from starting formal physiotherapy for the duration of the study. However, they will be encouraged to keep an active lifestyle. In order to stay active, they will be recommended to do simple home exercises following a home exercise video that will be presented to them. Participants assigned to the control group will be assessed at the same points in time as participants in the physiotherapy group All participants enrolled will undergo a similar timetable with assessments completed at five points throughout the study period. At month 0, participants are enrolled in the study, have their baseline assessment completed, and receive DBS surgery. At month 1, participants are started on optimization of DBS settings. At month 3, DBS settings are optimized and participants will have completed 7 days of activity monitoring using a wearable before the pre-intervention assessment. All participants are assessed before the physiotherapy group begins to receive gait and balance focused physiotherapy for 2 months (8 weeks) and the control group receives no intervention for 2 months. At month 5, physiotherapy is completed, and all participants undergo a third assessment immediately after the intervention period. At month 6, all participants are assessed with a Life Space Assessment questionnaire post-intervention and will have completed 7 days of activity monitoring using a wearable before the visit. At month 8, all participants undergo end of study assessment 3 months after completing physiotherapy.