Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease. Due to a constantly growing incidence rate and lowering age of PD patients it is becoming a more serious social problem.
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of physiotherapy procedure of patients with PD depending on their working status.
Methods: The research was carried out on 89 people with diagnosed PD of IInd stage according to the Hoehn and Yahr classification. They were divided into two groups: working professionally and non-working. The Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) was used to estimate patients' clinical status while the PDQ-39 (Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire) scale evaluated quality of life. Patients took part in rehabilitation activities twice a week for a period of 20 weeks. In both groups an improvement in physical activity and a quality of life were achieved.
Results: Better effects were observed in the group of working patients. Statistically significant differences were notice in part II UPDRS (p = 0.001), part I, II and III total of UPDRS (p = 0,001) and in the PDQ-39 test (p = 0.003).
Conclusions: Employment and participation in properly planned physiotherapy help reduce the symptoms and improve the quality of life in people with Parkinson's disease.
Keywords: Occupational activity; Parkinson’s disease; physiotherapy.