Articles

Exercise in Huntington's Disease: Current State and Clinical Significance

Mueller, Sandro Manuel; Petersen, Jens A.; Jung, Hans H.

Background: Huntington’s disease (HD) is a rare, progressive neurodegenerative disease. Currently, there is no cure for the disease, but treatment may alleviate HD symptoms. In recent years, several exercise training interventions have been conducted in HD patients. In the current article, we review previous studies investigating targeted exercise training interventions in HD patients.

Methods: We performed a literature search using the PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases on exercise training interventions in HD patients. Six publications fulfilled the criteria and were included in the review.

Results: Exercise training resulted in beneficial effects on cardiovascular and mitochondrial function. Training effects on cognition, motor function, and body composition were less congruent, but a positive effect seems likely. Health-related quality of life during the training interventions was stable. Most studies reported no related adverse events in response to training.

Discussion: Exercise training seems to be safe and feasible in HD patients. However, current knowledge is mainly based on short, small-scale studies and it cannot be transferred to all HD patients. Therefore, longer-term interventions with larger HD patient cohorts are necessary to draw firm conclusions about the potentially positive effects of exercise training in HD patients.

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Also Published In

Title
Tremor and Other Hyperkinetic Movements
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7916/tm9j-f874

More About This Work

Academic Units
Center for Parkinson's Disease and Other Movement Disorders
Published Here
February 19, 2019