Mobilizing Parkinson’s Disease: The Future of Exercise

Exercise is increasingly recognized as an important element in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease but what is exercise targeting? What accounts for the benefits observed in Parkinson’s disease? Is exercise disease modifying? Several modes of exercise have been studied in various doses across a heterogeneous Parkinson’s population. Yet more clarity is needed as to who benefits most and when, from what type of exercise and at which intensity. In this paper, we briefly review the state of the art in key areas and speculate on the likely state of research in each area in the next 20 years. Key areas relate to: (1) the physiological benefits of exercise with respect to disease modification; (2) the best type of exercise; (3) the optimal intensity of exercise; and (4) implementation strategies to increase exercise uptake. A better understanding of these concepts would allow for a more effective, personalized approach, rather than the current “one size fits all” and could most likely confer greater benefits.