Postural control learning dynamics in Parkinson’s disease: early improvement with plateau in stability, and continuous progression in flexibility and mobility

Table 1 Clinical outcomes of patients with PD at pre-, mid-, and post-training

Clinical measure	PD patients (n = 20)			ANOVA P value (F value)	Effect size	Tukey P value for post-hoc comparisons			Change pattern
Clinical measure	Pre-training	Mid-training	Post-training	ANOVA P value (F value)	Effect size	Pre to mid	Mid to post	Pre to post	Change pattern
Functional balance
Functional reach test (cm)	23.5 ± 7.9	32.8 ± 6.7*	37.6 ± 6.1^†*	< 0.0001 (43.1)	0.694	<0.0001	<0.0005	<0.0001	Continuous
Step test (taps in 15 s)	13.2 ± 3.5	15.9 ± 4.0*	17.3 ± 3.6*	< 0.0001 (23.9)	0.557	<0.0001	0.063	<0.0001	Saturation
Tinetti balance score	14.7 ± 1.5	15.6 ± 0.9*	15.9 ± 0.2*	< 0.0005 (9.44)	0.332	0.033	0.320	0.011	Saturation
Tandem stance^a—EO (s)	93.0 ± 27.6	113.7 ± 12.6*	118.3 ± 5.7*	< 0.0001 (14.5)	0.433	0.003	0.141	0.002	Saturation
Tandem stance^a—EC (s)	35.4 ± 26.8	54.8 ± 29.1*	72.7 ± 30.2^†*	< 0.0001 (23.2)	0.549	0.004	0.012	< 0.0001	Continuous
Functional mobility
TUG (s)	9.1 ± 2.7	7.4 ± 1.6*	6.5 ± 1.4*^†	< 0.0001 (23.5)	0.553	0.0007	0.004	0.0001	Continuous
6MWT (m)	226.0 ± 67	254.1 ± 61*	305.5 ± 62*^†	< 0.0001 (19.8)	0.510	0.040	0.002	0.0001	Continuous
Tinetti gait score	10.5 ± 1.4	11.5 ± 0.6*	11.8 ± 0.4*^†	< 0.0001 (13.8)	0.422	0.009	0.005	0.001	Continuous

Values are reported as mean ± standard deviation
EO, eyes open; EC, eyes closed; TUG, Timed Up and Go test; 6MWT, Six-minute walk test; FRT, Functional reach test; Continuous, continuously improving with significant difference between all time points; Saturation, improvements with saturation at the end—i.e., significant change in the first half of the training (from pre- to mid-training), but then non-significant from mid- to post-training points
Post-hoc Tukey tests for pairwise comparisons between time points: *significantly different from pre-training (P < 0.05); ^†significantly different from mid-training (P < 0.05)
Significant P values are in italic
^aTimed tandem stance was performed with the right and left leg in the front position, and then the time of both legs was summed as one scale (with maximum score of 120 s, considering that the maximum time to complete each stance test was set to 60 s)

ISSN: 1475-925X