SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neurorehabilitation
This article is part of the Research TopicNew approaches for central nervous system rehabilitation - Volume IIView all 13 articles
Complementary Therapies intervention in Parkinson's Disease: Systematic review and meta-analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Venice Hospital, 30122, Venice, Italy, Venice, Italy
- 2Di Maria Fisiosport, 90143 Palermo, Italy, Palermo, Italy
- 3SC Neuroriabilitazione e Riabilitazione Funzionale, 07100, Sassari, Italy, Sassari, Italy
- 4IRCCS Ospedale San Camillo, Venice, Italy
- 5Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Dublin, Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
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Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by both motor and non-motor impairments, leading to significant declines in quality of life (QoL). While physiotherapy remains a mainstay of non-pharmacological management, interest in complementary therapies—such as music therapy, dance, and art therapy—has grown due to their potential to address motor, cognitive, emotional, and social aspects of PD within a holistic framework. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of complementary therapies compared to usual care (e.g., physiotherapy) in improving balance, functional mobility, freezing of gait (FOG), and QoL in individuals with PD. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted following PRISMA guidelines and registered in the PROSPERO database (registration code: CRD42025636700). Search was performed on PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Science, and Embase. Eligible studies included randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials and clinical controlled trials comparing complementary therapies (e.g., music, dance, drama) to usual care in individuals with PD. Primary outcome was balance, whereas functional mobility, FOG, and QoL were set as secondary outcomes. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane RoB2 tool and meta-analyses were performed. Results: Out of 723 identified records, 29 studies met inclusion criteria and were included for qualitative This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article synthesis. Among these, 17 studies were included in the meta-analysis, whereas risk of bias was performed on 29 studies, revealing scarce methodological quality of the included studies. Balance and functional mobility meta-analyses showed a significant benefit of complementary therapies over usual care. Conclusions: Complementary therapies demonstrate moderate evidence of benefit in improving balance and functional mobility in individuals with PD, with less conclusive evidence for QoL and FOG. High heterogeneity and methodological limitations across studies highlight the need for more rigorous research.
Keywords: Complementary Therapies, Parkinson Disease, Art Therapy, Music Therapy, Meta-analysis
Received: 11 Sep 2025; Accepted: 12 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sabbadin, Geraci, Nieddu, D'Imperio, Pregnolato and Cacciante. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Luisa Cacciante, luisa.cacciante@hsancamillo.it
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