Effects of Physical Activity on Walking in Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease

Gait impairments are common and disabling symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and are associated with the risk of falls. Non-pharmacological interventions, such as physical exercise, may efficiently complement PD treatment and may mitigate the gait problems in people with PD. In this chapter, we bring to light different types of exercises that have shown positive results for gait parameters in people with PD. Because of the large number of findings, initially, we will present an overview of the effects of different exercises on walking, and, later, the chapter will focus mainly in two topics widely discussed recently: (i) gait adaptation (due to its close relationship with falls) and (ii) exercise combined with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS; as it is a potential tool to optimize the benefits of exercise in gait parameters). Overall, physical exercise is an effective method to treat gait problems in PD.