Telerehabilitation during social distancing for people with Parkinson’s disease: a retrospective study

INTRODUCTION/AIM: Clinical worsening has been common in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) during the social distancing due to pandemic. It is unclear if telerehabilitation applied during social distancing preserves clinical aspects of people with PD who are frequent exercisers before the pandemic. Thus, we compared the effects of 10 months of supervised, home-based, real-time videoconferencing telerehabilitation (SRTT) and nonexercising control on clinical aspects in people with PD who are frequent exercisers before the pandemic. METHODS: Fifty-seven (SRTT group) and 29 (nonexercising control group) people with PD were retrospectively assessed (Clinical Trials Registry: RBR-54sttfk). Only the SRTT group performed a 60-min online training sessions, 2–3 days per week, for 10 months (April 2020 to January 2021) during social distancing. Quality of life (PD Questionnaire [PDQ-39]), walking (item 28 from the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale part III [UPDRS-III]), posture (item 29 from the UPDRS-III), and freezing of gait (New-FOG questionnaire [NFOGQ]) were retrospectively assessed before (February–March 2020) and during social distancing (February–March 2021). The assessments were performed in-person and remotely before and during social distancing, respectively. RESULTS: There were no between-group differences at baseline (p > 0.05). SRTT preserves PDQ-39 and walking scores but not posture and NFOGQ scores, while nonexercising control worsens scores in all variables. In addition, SRTT is more effective than nonexercising control in preserving PDQ-39 and walking scores. CONCLUSION: During social distancing, long-term SRTT preserves the subjective quality of life and walking, but not subjective posture and FOG in people with PD who are frequent exercisers before the pandemic. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13760-022-02160-3.