Cycling Could Provide Relief for Motor Symptoms in Parkinson's Patients
In a groundbreaking study, researchers have discovered that cycling can help restore neural connections damaged by Parkinson's disease. The study, led by Aasef Shaikh MD, PhD, and published in Clinical Neurophysiology, provides compelling evidence that exercise-induced neuroplasticity plays a significant role in this process.
The study recruited nine adult participants with Parkinson's disease who had deep brain stimulation (DBS) devices. Over a four-week period, they underwent 12 cycling sessions, engaging in a dynamic program with resistance adjusted in real-time based on their pedaling intensity. This personalized challenge optimized motor engagement and brain stimulation at a functional level.
The researchers utilized DBS for its unique ability to record neural activity in the brain regions surrounding the stimulation lead. This allowed them to observe significant cumulative changes in electrical brain signals, reflecting neuroplastic adaptations such as altered synchronicity and signal properties within motor circuits. These changes suggest restoration or strengthening of neural pathways disrupted by Parkinson's.
Daniel H. Daneshvar, MD, PhD, comments that the study provides evidence that exercise can help re-engage parts of the brain affected by Parkinson's disease. Samer Tabbal, MD, notes that the study demonstrates how exercise changes the behavior of cells even in a damaged brain.
The mechanism by which cycling helps restore neural connections involves exercise-induced neuroplasticity—the brain's ability to adapt, reorganize, and form new neural connections in response to activity. Parkinson's symptoms stem partly from dopamine loss in motor circuits. The study suggests that vigorous cycling may partially mimic dopamine’s modulatory effects on brain rhythms, improving motor function and signaling patterns.
Tabbal emphasizes that knowledge is power and the more we know about how exercise improves brain function, the better we will be able to use exercise effectively to improve the symptoms of patients with Parkinson's disease. He suggests that the benefit of exercise is a long-term goal and that patients should exercise with a long-term hope without expecting immediate benefits.
The study further suggests that the proprioceptive system and/or the cerebellum could be the drivers of exercise-induced changes in the brain of patients with Parkinson's disease. In the longer term, Tabbal suggests that if we know how exercise improves brain function, we could find other means of achieving the same or even better benefit through other means, such as using medication, electric stimulation, magnetic stimulation, music, or light therapy.
Daneshvar also highlights the alignment between a practical therapy and circuit-level readouts as noteworthy for clinicians counseling patients about the benefits of exercise for patients with Parkinson's disease. The study answers a critical question about the extent to which exercise results in actual changes in the brain in patients with Parkinson's disease.
With an estimated 10 million people around the world living with Parkinson's disease, this study offers hope for a practical and effective therapy. The study's findings provide proof that exercise changes the brain and suggest that change only happens when exercise is done persistently, consistently, and over a long period of time.
- The benefits of exercise extend beyond physical fitness, as shown by a study that demonstrates its potential to help re-engage brain regions affected by Parkinson's disease.
- In the realm of medicine, neurology, and health-and-wellness, exercise appears to play a significant role in managing neurological disorders like Parkinson's disease.
- The study reveals that vigorous cycling, when done consistently over a long period, may stimulate the brain's ability to form new neural connections, a process known as neuroplasticity.
- This discovery challenges the conventional understanding of Parkinson's disease, which is primarily associated with other neurological disorders and loss of dopamine in motor circuits.
- The study, published in Clinical Neurophysiology, suggests that other medical-conditions, such as obesity and other neurological disorders, might also potentially benefit from the positive effects of fitness-and-exercise on the brain.
- Interestingly, the study suggests that the proprioceptive system and cerebellum could be the drivers of exercise-induced changes in the brain of patients with Parkinson's disease, hinting at new avenues for research in science and neurology.
- As the number of people living with Parkinson's disease approaches 10 million worldwide, this study offers a practical and effective therapeutic approach, emphasizing the importance of persistence, consistency, and long-term exercise for enhancing brain function and managing disease symptoms.
