The Effect of Powerball Training on Hand Tremors and Manual Dexterity of Older Adults With Parkinson’s Disease

The most important problems in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are hand tremors and manual dexterity. The present study aims to evaluate the effect of a Powerball training program on hand tremors and manual dexterity of older people with PD.

 In this quasi-experimental study, participants were 40 patients with PD referred to Rasool-e Akram Hospital in Tehran, Iran (mean age= 66.3±4.15 years). They were divided into two groups: Training (n=20) and control (n=20). After taking the pre-test assessments (the resting/postural tremor test and the Purdue pegboard test) for both groups, the training group performed Powerball training based on the defined protocol for 8 weeks, 3 times per week. Then, both groups underwent post-test assessments, and their data were compared and analyzed. The Shapiro–Wilk test was used to test the normality of data. The Wilcoxon test was used for within-group comparisons, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for between-group comparisons

 For hand tremors, the data analysis results showed a significant decrease in the frequency of resting tremors in the training group (Z=-3.43). In the control group, no significant difference was observed after 8 weeks. Also, there was no significant difference in the frequency of postural tremor in any group. For manual dexterity, the results showed a significant difference between the training and control groups in all four subtests (preferred hand, non-preferred hand, both hands, and assemblies) (P<0.05).

 Training with Powerball can be effective in reducing hand tremors at rest and improving the manual dexterity of older patients with PD.