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Static Weight Transferences in Patients with Parkinson's Disease using the Nintendo Wii Balance Board

Abstract:

Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a neurological disorder with a large number of motor and non-motor alterations that produce an impact on basic and instrumental Activities of Daily Living. These motor disorders are categorized by tremors, rigidity, bradykinesia, and postural control. Other types of alterations that are characteristic of PD are flexed posture and freezing. Traditional techniques are focused on stretching and muscle resistance training, performing movements of Pronation/Supination and Flexion/Extension, gait pattern training with different distances, (floor, and speed), weight transferences, visual-auditory cues (together with bobath), relaxation techniques, and stretching techniques. Our system, Active Balance Rehabilitation (the ABAR system) has been tested on a group composed of eleven participants with PD for a period of approximately 20 sessions with a duration of 30 minutes per session. Our main goal is to decrease the motor alterations in patients with PD. The results show that patients of these type increased their physical skills. However, our results need be interpreted with caution because our group was composed of a limited number of participants and there is no comparative study with a control group that can be tested using the traditional techniques. To resolve this problem, we need to increase the number of participants and to compare our system with a control group.