ABSTRACT Parkinson's disease causes a progressive decline of motor and cognitive functions, often affecting postural control. Training through virtual reality has been shown to be effective in improving this condition. This study aims to analyse the effects of the Kinect Adventures! games in postural control of people with Parkinson's disease. Ten individuals diagnosed with idiopathic Parkinson's disease, in stages I to III of the Hoehn & Yahr scale, aged between 48 and 73 years, were selected. Fourteen training sessions of one hour each, twice a week, were performed. Individuals were evaluated pre, post-intervention and 30 days after the last session of intervention by a force platform that measured the oscillation area and velocity of the centre of pressure in ten different sensory conditions and the Limits of Stability. Limits of Stability showed a statistically significant increase immediately after the training the 14 sessions, as were observed and there were no significant changes in oscillation area and velocity immediately after the intervention or 30 days after the end of training. The results of this study indicate that the training with Kinect Adventures! Games improve the postural control of people with Parkinson's disease, by increasing the Limits of Stability.

Abstract Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of adding a cognitive task on the performance of three different motor tasks with different demands, discrete skills, serial skills and continuous skills, by individuals with mild, moderate, and severe idiopathic Parkinson’ disease (PD). We also investigate the effect of the cognitive task in the secondary task and the cost of the dual-task. Method: This is a cross-sectional study. Individuals with idiopathic PD were divided in three groups with respect to motor severity (mild, moderate and severe groups). Participants’ performances were assessed in single and DT conditions including Sit-to-Stand test (SST), Timed Up and Go (TUG), and 10-meter Walk test (T10W). Cognitive task used was verbal fluency Results: The results show that dual task impact the performance of all primary tasks. DT negatively affects the performance of the motor tasks. And there is a different impact according the severity of the disease, severe ones are more affected than mild and moderate. Conclusion: In conclusion, adding a concurrent cognitive task negatively affected the performance of discrete, serial and continuous motor tasks, and this effect is more noticeable in severe than in mild patients. Under dual-task conditions, patients improved their cognitive task performance for gait and TUG, suggesting a prioritization of the secondary task for these tasks. There was no difference between the costs of the three tasks.

Resumo Introdução: A doença de Parkinson provoca declínio progressivo das funções motoras e cognitivas, levando a uma diminuição da independência e da qualidade de vida das pessoas acometidas. O treinamento por meio de realidade virtual tem se mostrando eficaz, pois promove estímulos cognitivos e motores, o que pode ser benéfico para estes indivíduos, melhorando sua qualidade de vida. Objetivo: Analisar os efeitos da realidade virtual na cognição e qualidade de vida de pacientes com Doença de Parkinson. Métodos: Tratou-se de uma série de casos. Participaram deste estudo onze indivíduos com média de idade de 65 (9,6) anos classificados nos estádios 1 a 3 da Escala Hoehn e Yahr. Os indivíduos participaram de quatorze sessões com duração de uma hora, duas vezes por semana durante sete semanas no qual praticaram quatro jogos do Kinect Adventures!. Eles foram avaliados antes, imediatamente após a intervenção e 30 dias após a intervenção. A cognição foi avaliada por meio da Escala Cognitiva de Montreal (MoCA) e a qualidade de vida foi avaliada por meio do Questionário de Doença de Parkinson (PDQ-39). Resultados: Somente as atividades do PDQ-39 do domínio da vida diária demonstraram melhoria estatisticamente significante. Os escores da MoCA, em geral, permaneceram os mesmos. Conclusão: Embora o treinamento da realidade virtual tenha promovido melhoria nas atividades do PDQ-39 no domínio de vida diária, não foi efetivo nos outros domínios avaliados quanto à qualidade de vida e cognição.

Abstract Introduction: Parkinson’s disease causes progressive decline of motor and cognitive functions leading to a decrease in the independence and quality of life of people affected. Training through virtual reality is proving effective, as it promotes cognitive and motor stimuli, which can be beneficial for these individuals, improving their quality of life. Objective: To analyze the effects of virtual reality on the cognition and quality of life of patients with Parkinson’s disease. Methods: A total of 11 individuals with a mean age of 65 (9.6) years classified in stages 1 to 3 of the Hoehn and Yahr Scale participated in this study. The subjects participated in fourteen sessions lasting one hour, twice a week for seven weeks in which they practiced four games of Kinect Adventures!. They were evaluated before, immediately after the intervention and 30 days after the intervention. Cognition was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Scale (MoCA) and quality of life was assessed using the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39). Results: Only PDQ-39 activities from the domain of daily living demonstrated a statistically significant improvement. The MoCA scores, in general, remained the same. Conclusion: Although virtual reality training promoted improvement in PDQ-39 activities in the daily life domain, it was not effective in the other domains assessed for quality of life and cognition.

Resumen Introducción: La enfermedad de Parkinson provoca una disminución progresiva de las funciones motoras y cognitivas, llevando a una disminución de la independencia y de la calidad de vida de las personas afectadas. El entrenamiento por medio de la realidad virtual se ha demostrado eficaz, pues promueve estímulos cognitivos y motores, lo que puede ser beneficioso para estos individuos, mejorando su calidad de vida. Objetivo: Analizar los efectos de la realidad virtual en la cognición y calidad de vida de pacientes con enfermedad de Parkinson. Métodos: Se trata de una serie de casos, participaron de este estudio once individuos con una media de edad de 65 (9,6) años clasificados en los estadios 1 a 3 de la escala Hoehn y Yahr. Los individuos participaron en catorce sesiones de una hora, dos veces a la semana durante siete semanas en las que practicaron cuatro juegos de Kinect Adventures!. Se evaluaron antes, inmediatamente después de la intervención y 30 días después de la intervención. La cognición fue evaluada por medio de la Escala Cognitiva de Montreal (MoCA) y la calidad de vida fue evaluada a través del Cuestionario de Enfermedad de Parkinson (PDQ-39). Resultados: Sólo las actividades del PDQ-39 del dominio de la vida diaria demostraron una mejora estadísticamente significativa. Los escores de la MoCA, en general, permanecieron iguales. Conclusión: Aunque el entrenamiento de la realidad virtual ha promovido una mejora en las actividades del PDQ-39 en el ámbito de la vida diaria, no fue efectivo en los otros ámbitos evaluados en cuanto a la calidad de vida y cognición.