A randomized controlled trial of the effects of weights on amplitude and frequency of postural hand tremor in people with Parkinson's disease.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effects of weights on postural hand tremor related to self-feeding in subjects with Parkinson's disease (PD).

DESIGN

In a repeated-measures design, postural hand tremor was recorded three times in each of three weight conditions in a single session for each subject. The order of all recording conditions was randomized.

SETTING

Intervention was applied and measurement was conducted in a university-based motor performance laboratory.

SUBJECTS

Fourteen men and two women diagnosed with PD and having hand tremor participated (mean age 67.1 years, mean duration of PD 4.6 years). All were community-dwelling.

INTERVENTION

The control condition consisted of holding a built-up spoon (108 g). There were two experimental conditions: holding a weighted spoon (248 g); and holding the built-up spoon while wearing a weighted wrist cuff (470 g).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Three measures of tremor amplitude and two measures of tremor frequency were calculated from recordings of displacement of the spoon obtained from laser displacement sensors.

RESULTS

Repeated-measures analyses of variance revealed no significant differences across conditions in any measure of tremor amplitude or in either measure of tremor frequency. Correlational and Mann-Whitney U-test analyses revealed that none of age, disease duration or medication intake had any significant relationship with tremor amplitude in the control condition or with whether amplitude was altered by weights.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that there is no support for the clinical recommendation of using weighted utensils or weighted wrist cuffs to alleviate postural hand tremor in PD.