Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the treadmill plus music combined rehabilitation training on motor outcomes in participants with Parkinson’s disease.

Background: Parkinson’s disease is one of the most common causes of disability among older adults. Several motor functions such as Gait and balance affections as a result of fear of movement and bradykinesia impact participation in daily life activities. Therefore, different physical therapy modalities have been evolved to manage these symptoms in addition to the medical treatment. One of these modalities is treadmill training combined with auditory cueing such as music which may help in managing motor symptoms in affected individuals.

Method: We conducted an electronic search through PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Clinical Trials, Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus databases. We assessed the retrieved articles to include only randomized clinical trials which examine the effect of treadmill combined with music therapy in Parkinson disease rehabilitation. Data of included articles were extracted and reviewed.

Results: A total of four randomized clinical trials met our inclusion criteria and included in this systematic review [1], [2], [3] and [4] . Our results revealed that different motor outcomes showed significant improvements in the experimental group in relation to the control group. Specific gait parameters such as functional independence measure, 10-min walk test and time up go test showed more significant improvements after treadmill and music application (p < 0.001). Also, step length, stride length and functional gait assessment scale was better in favor of treadmill and music exercise (P=0.037, 0.042) respectively. Moreover, none of the included studies reported any adverse effects to rehabilitation exercise by treadmill combined with music therapy.

Conclusion: Treadmill training combined with auditory stimulation in the form of music is considered as a safe intervention and can be used to improve motor and gait parameters in Parkinson’s disease rehabilitation. However, there is no enough evidence supporting its use in clinical practice due to low number of high quality randomized clinical trials are available. Furthermore, more high quality randomized clinical trials with large sample size should be carried out to validate its effectiveness.

References: [1] De Luca, Rosaria, et al. “Do patients with PD benefit from music assisted therapy plus treadmill-based gait training? An exploratory study focused on behavioral outcomes.” International Journal of Neuroscience 130.9 (2020): 933-940.
[2] Chaiwanichsiri, Dootchai, et al. “Treadmill training with music cueing: a new approach for Parkinson’s gait facilitation.” Asian Biomedicine 5.5 (2011): 649-654.
[3] Calabrò, Rocco Salvatore, et al. “Walking to your right music: a randomized controlled trial on the novel use of treadmill plus music in Parkinson’s disease.” Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation 16.1 (2019): 1-14.
[4] Gooßes, Mareike, et al. “Feasibility of music-assisted treadmill training in parkinson’s disease patients with and without deep brain stimulation: Insights from an ongoing pilot randomized controlled trial.” Frontiers in Neurology (2020): 790.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/safety-and-efficacy-of-treadmill-training-combined-with-music-on-motor-outcomes-in-patients-with-parkinsons-disease-a-systematic-review/