TY - JOUR
T1 - Motivators and Barriers to Exercise in Parkinson's Disease
AU - Afshari, Mitra
AU - Yang, Amy
AU - Bega, Danny
N1 - Funding Information:
Dr. Afshari and Amy Yang have nothing to disclose. Dr. Bega has served as a consultant for Teva Pharmaceuticals and Cynapsus Therapeutics, Inc. He serves on the speaker’s bureau for Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He has received grant support from the National Parkinson Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017-IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Background: Despite evidence for the benefits of exercise in Parkinson's disease (PD), many patients remain sedentary for undefined reasons. Objective: To compare exercise habits, perceptions about exercise, and barriers to exercise in 'low' (<3 h/week) and 'high' (=3 h/week) exercisers with PD. Methods: A 48-item survey was administered to PD patients at an outpatient academic center. Chi-squared tests were used to compare the percentage differences between low-and high-exercisers with two-sided tests and a significant level of 0.05. Results: 243 surveys were collected over three months; 28 were excluded due to incomplete data, leaving 215 to be analyzed. 49.3% reported 'low'-exercise and 50.7% reported 'high'-exercise. High-exercisers participated in higher intensity exercise regimens (83.4% versus 32.1%, p = 0.001). High-exercisers were more likely to start exercising after being diagnosed (54.2% versus 27.8%, p < 0.001), whereas low-exercisers were more likely to reduce their amount of exercise (40.2% versus 15.9%, p < 0.001). Low-exercisers required more motivating factors. Both groups benefited from having a significant other or a personal trainer motivate them, and both were more likely to exercise if their neurologist encouraged them. Low-exercisers reported twice as many barriers as high-exercisers (p = 0.001). Barriers that were significantly more common in low-exercisers were: lacking someone to motivate them (33.3% versus 10.5%, p < 0.001), fatigue (20.8% versus 15.2%, p = 0.005), and depression (16.7% versus 7.6%, p = 0.045). Conclusions: There are significant differences between people with PD who exercise regularly and those who do not in terms of motivators and barriers. These findings should be considered when tailoring recommendations for PD patients to encourage exercise, and in designing future interventions.
AB - Background: Despite evidence for the benefits of exercise in Parkinson's disease (PD), many patients remain sedentary for undefined reasons. Objective: To compare exercise habits, perceptions about exercise, and barriers to exercise in 'low' (<3 h/week) and 'high' (=3 h/week) exercisers with PD. Methods: A 48-item survey was administered to PD patients at an outpatient academic center. Chi-squared tests were used to compare the percentage differences between low-and high-exercisers with two-sided tests and a significant level of 0.05. Results: 243 surveys were collected over three months; 28 were excluded due to incomplete data, leaving 215 to be analyzed. 49.3% reported 'low'-exercise and 50.7% reported 'high'-exercise. High-exercisers participated in higher intensity exercise regimens (83.4% versus 32.1%, p = 0.001). High-exercisers were more likely to start exercising after being diagnosed (54.2% versus 27.8%, p < 0.001), whereas low-exercisers were more likely to reduce their amount of exercise (40.2% versus 15.9%, p < 0.001). Low-exercisers required more motivating factors. Both groups benefited from having a significant other or a personal trainer motivate them, and both were more likely to exercise if their neurologist encouraged them. Low-exercisers reported twice as many barriers as high-exercisers (p = 0.001). Barriers that were significantly more common in low-exercisers were: lacking someone to motivate them (33.3% versus 10.5%, p < 0.001), fatigue (20.8% versus 15.2%, p = 0.005), and depression (16.7% versus 7.6%, p = 0.045). Conclusions: There are significant differences between people with PD who exercise regularly and those who do not in terms of motivators and barriers. These findings should be considered when tailoring recommendations for PD patients to encourage exercise, and in designing future interventions.
KW - Adult
KW - Parkinson's disease
KW - exercise
KW - falls
KW - physical activity
KW - quality of life
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U2 - 10.3233/JPD-171173
DO - 10.3233/JPD-171173
M3 - Article
C2 - 29103050
AN - SCOPUS:85032823464
VL - 7
SP - 703
EP - 711
JO - Journal of Parkinson's Disease
JF - Journal of Parkinson's Disease
SN - 1877-7171
IS - 4
ER -