Home-based prescribed exercise improves balance-related activities and gait speed in people with Parkinson 's disease , and these improvements are similar to improvements with equivalent centre-based exercise .
QUESTIONS In people with Parkinson 's disease , does home-based prescribed exercise improve balance-related activities and quality of life compared with no intervention ?
Are the effects of home-based exercise similar to those of equivalent centre-based exercise ?
Comparison of Reliability, Validity, and Responsiveness of the Mini-BESTest and Berg Balance Scale in Patients With Balance Disorders
Background Recently , a new tool for assessing dynamic balance impairments has been presented : the 14-item Mini-BESTest . Objective The aim of this study was to compare the psychometric performance of the Mini-BESTest and the Berg Balance Scale ( BBS ) . Design A prospect i ve , single-group , observational design was used in the study . Methods Ninety-three participants ( mean age=66.2 years , SD=13.2 ; 53 women , 40 men ) with balance deficits were recruited . Interrater ( 3 raters ) and test-retest ( 1–3 days ) reliability were calculated using intraclass correlation coefficients ( ICCs ) . Responsiveness and minimal important change were assessed ( after 10 sessions of physical therapy ) using both distribution-based and anchor-based methods ( external criterion : the 15-point Global Rating of Change [ GRC ] scale ) . Results At baseline , neither floor effects nor ceiling effects were found in either the Mini-BESTest or the BBS . After treatment , the maximum score was found in 12 participants ( 12.9 % ) with BBS and in 2 participants ( 2.1 % ) with Mini-BESTest . Test-retest reliability for total scores was significantly higher for the Mini-BESTest ( ICC=.96 ) than for the BBS ( ICC=.92 ) , whereas interrater reliability was similar ( ICC=.98 versus .97 , respectively ) . The st and ard error of measurement ( SEM ) was 1.26 and the minimum detectable change at the 95 % confidence level ( MDC95 ) was 3.5 points for Mini-BESTest , whereas the SEM was 2.18 and the MDC95 was 6.2 points for the BBS . In receiver operating characteristic curves , the area under the curve was 0.92 for the Mini-BESTest and 0.91 for the BBS . The best minimal important change ( MIC ) was 4 points for the Mini-BESTest and 7 points for the BBS . After treatment , 38 participants evaluated with the Mini-BESTest and only 23 participants evaluated with the BBS ( out of the 40 participants who had a GRC score of ≥3.5 ) showed a score change equal to or greater than the MIC values . Limitations The consecutive sampling method drawn from a single rehabilitation facility and the intrinsic weakness of the GRC for calculating MIC values were limitations of the study . Conclusions The 2 scales behave similarly , but the Mini-BESTest appears to have a lower ceiling effect , slightly higher reliability levels , and greater accuracy in classifying individual patients who show significant improvement in balance function
Home-based prescribed exercise improves balance-related activities and gait speed in people with Parkinson 's disease , and these improvements are similar to improvements with equivalent centre-based exercise .
QUESTIONS In people with Parkinson 's disease , does home-based prescribed exercise improve balance-related activities and quality of life compared with no intervention ?
Are the effects of home-based exercise similar to those of equivalent centre-based exercise ?