Falls and mobility in Parkinson's disease: protocol for a randomised controlled clinical trial

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although physical therapy and falls prevention education are argued to reduce falls and disability in people with idiopathic Parkinson's disease, this has not yet been confirmed with a large scale randomised controlled clinical trial. The study will investigate the effects on falls, mobility and quality of life of (i) movement strategy training combined with falls prevention education, (ii) progressive resistance strength training combined with falls prevention education, (iii) a generic life-skills social program (control group). METHODS/DESIGN: People with idiopathic Parkinson's disease who live at home will be recruited and randomly allocated to one of three groups. Each perso..