Proprioceptive Focal Stimulation (Equistasi®) may improve the quality of gait in middle-moderate Parkinson’s disease patients. Double-blind, double-dummy, randomized, crossover, Italian Multicentric study.

Antonella Peppe, Stefano Paravati, Maria Giulia Baldassarre, Leila Bakdounes, Fabiola Spolaor, Annamaria Guiotto, Davide Pavan, Zimi Sawacha, Sonia Bottino, Daniela Clerici, Nicola Cau, Alessandro Mauro, Giovanni Albani, Micol Avenali, Giorgio Sandrini, Cristina Tassorelli, Daniele Volpe

Front Neurol, Sep. 2019

1. The object of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of Proprioceptive Focal Stimulation on Gait in middle – advanced Parkinson (PD) patients

2. Forty PD patients at their best on therapy were enrolled in the study. The findings obtained in this study show the efficacy of mechanical focal vibration. Active stimulation induced a significant improvement in Mean Velocity (Velocity), Stride Length (SL), Stance (STA) and Double Support (DST) percentage, both in left and right stride. The ANOVA analysis using H&Y stage as a factor, showed that DST and MDUPDRS III score improved significantly more in the more severely affected subjects.