Self-treatment of freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease patients using silicone pads to apply Thai acupressure to plantar acupoints: A randomised, controlled trial

Introduction

Freezing of gait (FOG) involves dysfunction of the motor and sensory systems. Peripheral sensory stimuli, including Thai acupressure, can improve proprioceptive function and decrease FOG episodes. Here, we sought to determine the efficacy of acupressure as a self-treatment to alleviate FOG in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Methods

We conducted an open-label, controlled trial of 60 PD patients with FOG while medicated, randomised into two groups: an active-treatment group using silicone pads to apply pressure to plantar acupoints on the head of the big toe and the base of the first metatarsal bone on each foot for 6 s using patient body weight while seated, repeated four times for each acupoint bilaterally, and a sham-treatment group using a similar protocol without the silicone pads. The primary outcome was stride length. Secondary outcomes included FOG episodes, FOG duration, percent duration of FOG to total gait time (%FOG), and gait parameters. A baseline-adjusted analysis of covariance was used to compare outcomes between the two groups.

Results

Compared with the sham treatment, the active treatment increased stride length, gait velocity, and cadence (all p < 0.001), and decreased FOG episodes and duration (both p < 0.001), %FOG (p = 0.011), and double-support time (p < 0.001). No adverse effects were noted.

Conclusions

Acupressure using silicone pads to stimulate plantar acupoints for self-treatment is a noninvasive, simple, safe way to improve gait and alleviate FOG in patients with PD.

Clinical Trial Registration

We registered the study prospectively in the Thai Clinical Trial Registry No. TCTR20200317001.