Description
Recent studies in rehabilitation of Parkinson's Disease (PD) have shown that cycling on a tandem bike at a high pedaling rate can reduce the symptoms of the disease. Variability in severity and progression of Parkinson's disease symptoms makes it challenging to design therapy interventions that provide maximal benefit. The precise mechanism for differences in function following exercise is unknown. We examined the complexity of biomechanical and physiological features of forced and voluntary cycling and correlated these features to improvements in motor function as measured by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). Heart rate, cadence and power were analyzed using entropy signal processing techniques. This study shows how time series analysis methods of biomechanical and physiological parameters of exercise can be used to predict improvements in motor function. In the next phase of the research, these analysis results have been used to design and test a smart motorized bicycle that could assess individual effort, performance, skill level, and therapeutic value in order to maximize the benefit. The designed exercise bike can safely control the rider's experience at an accelerated pedaling rate while capturing real-time test data.
Publication Date
4-12-2013
Publisher
Case Western Reserve University Research ShowCase 2013
City
Cleveland, OH
Keywords
Parkinson's Disease, Rehabilitation, Tandem Cycling
Recommended Citation
Mohammadi-Abdar, Hassan; Ridgel, Angela; and Discenzo, Fred, "Parkinson's Disease and Tandem Cycling" (2013). Research ShowCASE. 12.
https://commons.case.edu/research-showcase/12