| Objective: This clinical scholarly project (CSP) aims to determine the impact of brisk walking in improving gait and reducing falls among individuals with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease (PD).;Design: A quasi non-experimental, pretest-posttest design involving a 12-week home based brisk walking exercise.;Methods: Fifteen clinic patients with mild to moderate PD engaged in brisk walking exercises for a total of 150 minutes per week, for a period of 12 weeks.;Outcome measures: Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale for gait evaluation, 6-minute walk test for walking speed, self-reporting of falls and PDQ-39 for quality of life were used to measure the effectiveness of the intervention.;Results: The participants demonstrated overall improvements in the primary outcomes of walking speed, fall, and gait. Six-Minute Walk Test increased by 101.45 meters (SD = 91.6, p =.001, 95% CI -152.20 to -50.71) in walking distance after the completion of the 12-week brisk walking exercise. Fall rate declined by an average of 40% (M = .40, SD = .63, p=028, 95% CI .50 to .750) at the end of the 12-week exercise period. UPDRS motor score of the participants decreased by an average of 6.47 points ( SD =3.96, p<.001, 95% CI 4.27 to 8.66) after the intervention. PDQ-39 showed an average decrease of 7.67 (SD = 7.75, p=.002, 95% CI 3.37 to 11.96) after the intervention.;Conclusion: This pretest-posttest intervention demonstrates the potential of brisk walking exercise to improve gait and reduce falls among patients with mild to moderate idiopathic PD. |
