Parkinson's disease is a brain disorder that leads to tremor, slowness, muscle stiffness, and other movement disorders. The benefits of exercise for reducing disability in individuals with Parkinson's disease are numerous. However, not much is known about the designing and prescription of exercise in neurodegenerative diseases. A brief review and indications for exercise prescription and evaluation are discussed throughout. In this scoping review, we specifically aimed to describe the applicability of walking tests (6-min/10-m) for the prescription of exercise in individuals with Parkinson's disease and to propose training (undulating periodized) designs in three exercise modalities, Brazilian dance rhythms (Samba and Forró), deep-water exercises, and Nordic walking. These training models and evaluation methods may assist coaches and therapists in organizing exercise programs adequate to people with Parkinson's disease, and are essential steps toward a comprehensive and more detailed understanding of the training loads in motor disorders and disease states.
Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11332-022-00894-4.
Keywords: Aquatic exercises; Dance therapy; Nordic walking; Parkinsonian disorders; Rehabilitation; Training and evaluation protocols.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag Italia S.r.l., part of Springer Nature 2022.