Parkinson's Disease Clinical Trials in Newark, NJ

This study asks three questions about Persons with Parkinson Disease that use a bicycle for exercise. 1. Does the use of virtual reality increase the intensity and and enjoyment of the experience compared to bicycling without virtual reality? 2. Does the way in which the bicycling (interval compared to continous) is performed affect the experience? 3. How does the way the virtual reality is delivered (with goggles or projected on a screen) affect the experience? Read Less

The purpose of the research is to better understand the motor behavior of individuals in health and disease. The specific purpose of this project is to identify if we can utilize a smartphone to diagnose different movement disorders and monitor their symptoms. A. Objectives Estimate symptom severity of Essential tremor (ET), Parkinson's disease (PD), Huntington's disease (HD), Primary focal dystonia (PFD), spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA), and Functional movement disorders (FMD) using a smartphone-based application Differentiate individuals with the different movement disorders from healthy controls based on features from the smartphone data Differentiate individuals with a specific movement disorder from people with other movement disorders based on features from the smartphone data B. Hypotheses / Research Question(s) We hypothesize that we can estimate the severity of symptoms using a smartphone application and that, using those estimates, we can differentiate individuals with movement disorders from healthy controls and from people with other movement disorders. Read Less

IMPORTANCE: Rehabilitation games have been shown to improve cognitive function among people with various disorders but they have not been explored in home settings for patients with Parkinson's disease. OBJECTIVE: To collect pilot data regarding the therapeutic benefits of self-administered rehabilitation games among patients with Parkinson's disease. METHODS: The investigators will recruit 20 patients with Parkinson's disease into a pilot randomized controlled trial. Patients will be asked to perform two 30-minute sessions per week of training using serious games over a 3-month period in addition to conventional care or undergo only usual care. Patients will be evaluated at baseline, after 12 weeks of treatment, and at 24 weeks. Improvements in cognitive function, depression, quality of life, and mobility will be assessed. RELEVANCE: Identifying whether self-administered rehabilitation games can lead to clinical improvements could have significant implications for the management of the disease. Read Less