Trager And Parkinson's

Here's the abstract of a recent study called, "The Effect of Trager Therapy On The Level Of Evoked Stretch Responses In Patients With Parkinson's Disease And Rigidity." A copy of the complete study is available here.

Objective: To quantify changes of evoked stretch responses (ESR) in the most rigid arm of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) after Trager therapy.

Results: In general, the level of ESR were reduced by 36% immediately after treatment and remained 32% lower than pretest values 11 minutes after treatment (F 41.45, P .05). Patients who received the treatment lying supine benefited from a 42% reduction of ESR (F 4.07, P .05). The side on which the treatment was performed did not significantly influence the outcome of the treatment (F 0.50, P .05). However, post hoc analysis of the triple interaction (test side position) indicated that the sitting position was much less efficient for sustained contralateral effect (P .05).

Conclusions: Results from the present study strongly suggest that it is possible to modify the level of ESR by using Trager therapy. This stretch reflex inhibition may induce a reduction of the muscle rigidity seen in these patients. The present results may eventually lead to the development of a specific complementary therapy for patients with Parkinson’s disease and rigidity. (J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2002;25:455-64)

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