{
  "abstract": "Objectives Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a complex, progressive neurological disorder with motor and non-motor symptoms. Among the non-motor symptoms, constipation severely affects the patients’ quality of life. Thus, the effects of a daily walking exercise on constipation and other symptoms were evaluated in patients with PD.Methods 16 patients carried a walking tracker for 1 week to individually measure their daily baseline steps. Subsequently, participants performed random walking exercises and maintained a dietary diary for 3 months, with the goal to increase their daily step count by 3000 from the baseline. Participants recorded their dietary intake for another 3 months after the walking intervention. Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) and Patient Assessment of Constipation Symptoms (PAC-SYM) evaluations were conducted thrice during the 6-month trial period.Results Walking significantly improved constipation and PD severity. PAC-SYM scores decreased at time 2 (immediately after the 3-month walking intervention) (mean difference (MD)=4.38, p=0.001, d=1.23) and time 3 (3 months after the walking intervention) (MD=3.19, p=0.033, d=0.73) compared with time 1 (baseline). UPDRS scores also declined at Time 2 (MD=7.13, p=0.003) and time 3 (MD=6.88, p=0.008), indicating clinically meaningful benefits.Conclusion A 3-month walking intervention improved constipation and motor and non-motor symptoms in PD, supporting exercise to slow disease progression. Future randomised controlled trials with biomarker assessments are warranted to validate these findings and clarify the underlying mechanisms.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ph.D. Program for Aging, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan"
      ],
      "name": "Yi-Ping Wu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute of Population Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Hsinchu, Taiwan"
      ],
      "name": "I-Chien Wu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan",
        "Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan",
        "Neuroscience and Brain Disease Center, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan",
        "Division of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders, Department of Neurology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan",
        "Division of Neurology, Taichung Municipal Geriatric Rehabilitation General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan"
      ],
      "name": "Ming-Kuei Lu"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Effects of daily walking exercise on constipation in patients with Parkinson’s disease",
  "uid": "22ad2537-6a5c-554e-82c5-c0c577478f04"
}