2014/01/01 by Matthis Synofzik, Winfried Ilg · 1 citation
Neuroscience · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · Psychology · #Genetic Neurodegenerative Diseases #Mitochondrial Function and Pathology #Botulinum Toxin and Related Neurological Disorders #Spinocerebellar ataxia #Physical medicine and rehabilitation #Neurorehabilitation #Disease #Medicine #Motor learning #Physical therapy #Degenerative disease #Neurodegeneration #Ataxia #Psychology #Neuroscience #Rehabilitation #Pathology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1155/2014/583507
openalex publication_date 2014/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/27
The cerebellum is essentially involved in movement control and plays a critical role in motor learning. It has remained controversial whether patients with degenerative cerebellar disease benefit from high-intensity coordinative training. Moreover, it remains unclear by which training methods and mechanisms these patients might improve their motor performance. Here, we review evidence from different high-intensity training studies in patients with degenerative spinocerebellar disease. These studies demonstrate that high-intensity coordinative training might lead to a significant benefit in patients with degenerative ataxia. This training might be based either on physiotherapy or on whole-body controlled videogames ("exergames"). The benefit shown in these studies is equal to regaining one or more years of natural disease progression. In addition, first case studies indicate that even subjects with advanced neurodegeneration might benefit from such training programs. For both types of training, the observed clinical improvements are paralleled by recoveries in ataxia-specific dysfunctions (e.g., multijoint coordination and dynamic stability). Importantly, for both types of training, the retention of the effects seems to depend on the frequency and continuity of training. Based on these studies, we here present preliminary recommendations for clinical practice, and articulate open questions that might guide future studies on neurorehabilitation in degenerative spinocerebellar disease.