AUTHOR=Fundarò Cira , Cavalieri Carlo , Pinna Gian Domenico , Giardini Anna , Mancini Francesca , Casale Roberto 

TITLE=Upper Limb Interactive Weightless Technology-Aided Intervention and Assessment Picks Out Motor Skills Improvement in Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2020.00040

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2020.00040

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=Background
In Parkinson’s disease, reaching movements are conditioned by motor planning and execution deficiency. Recently, rehabilitation aided by high technological devices have been employed for Parkinson’s Disease. 
Objective
We aimed 1- to investigate the changes in upper limb motor performances in a Parkinson’s Disease patient’s sample after a training with an exoskeleton device in an augmented feedback environment; 2-to highlight differences by motor parameters (performance, speed and movement accuracy) and by type of movement (simple or complex); 3-to evaluate movement improvements by means of UPDRS II-III.  
Methods
Observational pilot study. 20 right-handed Parkinson's Disease patients, Hohen &Yahr 2, Mini Mental State Examination >24 were evaluated. All patients underwent a 5-day/week sessions for 4 weeks, 30 minutes for each arm; the training was performed with 12 exercises (single and multi-joints, horizontal and vertical movements). All the patients were assessed by means of UPDRS II-III and the evaluation tests provided by the device’s software: a simple movement, “vertical capture”, a complex movement “horizontal capture”. For each test we analysed reached targets percentage, movement execution time, accuracy.
Results
After training a significant improvement of accuracy and speed for simple movement on the dominant arm, of reached targets and speed for complex movement on both sides were shown. UPDRS II and III improved significantly after training.
Conclusions
In our study, a motor training aided by high technological device improves motor parameters and highlights differences between type of movement (simple or complex) and between movement parameters (speed and accuracy) in a Parkinson’s Disease patients’ sample.