Effects of Exercise on Dystonia Pathophysiology

Dystonia Clinical Trial

Official title:

Progressive Resistance Exercise and Dystonia Pathophysiology.

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05663840
• Other study ID #: IRB202200490
• Secondary ID: 1R01NS122943
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: October 13, 2022
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2027

Study information

• Verified date: April 2024
• Source: University of Florida
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this research study is to investigate how the brain and motor behavior changes in individuals with dystonia in response to exercise training.

Description:

Dystonia is a debilitating movement disorder. It involves involuntary muscle contractions with abnormal and repetitive movements, postures, or both. The current treatments for dystonia comprise of oral medications, botulinum toxin injections, and deep brain stimulation surgery. These treatments, despite optimal management, fail to improve symptoms in more than a third of patients and the improvements are often unpredictable. We will investigate the brain adaptation effects for progressive resistance exercise-focused cervical and shoulder training (PERFECT) in patients with focal cervical dystonia with functional MRI (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) techniques for understanding the pathophysiology of dystonia and treatment related changes. The investigators propose to enroll patients with predominantly focal cervical dystonia and compare PERFECT plus standard-of-care (SOC) therapy (n = 27) with a control group of SOC therapy (n = 27). Participants in the PERFECT + SOC group will perform physical therapist-guided exercises twice a week for 6 months and participants in the SOC group will continue receiving standard pharmacological therapies at stable doses and they will not exercise.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 56
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2027
• Est. primary completion date: December 31, 2027
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 30 Years to 85 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients have predominantly focal cervical dystonia and whose diagnosis will be confirmed by a movement disorders specialist following criteria recommended by Movement Disorders Society.
• Moderate disease severity.
• Are 30 to 85 years old
• Are able to tolerate exercise sessions.
• Reporting suboptimal clinical benefits despite receiving maximally tolerated doses of BoNT injections for the neck muscles and/or oral pharmacological therapy.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Participating in an alternate structured exercise program, receiving regular physical or occupational therapy
• Have significant pain, spondylosis or active arthritis
• Fail the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire
• Have significant cognitive impairment
• Have implanted electrical device (eg, cardiac pacemaker or a DBS or a neurostimulator or metallic clip in their body, as necessitated by the risks of MRI or TMS
• Active seizure disorder; not be eligible for TMS and claustrophobic for MRI portion. As necessitated by the risks of MRI or TMS, patients who have any type of implanted electrical device (such as a cardiac pacemaker or a neurostimulator), or a certain type of metallic clip in their body (i.e., an aneurysm clip in the brain), active seizure disorder are not eligible for participation in the MRI or TMS portion of the study.
• Pregnancy tests will be carried out for each female subject of child bearing potential prior to the participation in the study and prior to each follow up visit (as indicated).

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Dystonia
• Dystonic Disorders

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Progressive resistance exercise
Patients with predominant symptoms of cervical dystonia will receive exercise training. Patients will receive progressive resistance exercise focused cervical and shoulder training (PERFECT) plus standard-of-care (SOC) therapy. Resistance training will consist of mainly muscle-strengthening exercises for the neck, shoulder and arms and a few upper trunk muscles. Resistance training will be guided by physical therapists at twice a week schedule for 6 months. These participants will also receive SOC therapy.
• Standard of care
Subjects will receive SOC therapy only

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	University of Florida	Gainesville	Florida

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Florida	National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Brain effects measured with fMRI	To measure change in BOLD (fMRI) signals to functional connectivity in active group vs the control group.	Baseline up to 6 months
Primary	Brain effects measured with TMS	To measure motor cortex excitability and plasticity in TMS findings.	Baseline up to 6 months