BACKGROUND: Relaxation training can be an important adjunct in reducing symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). Autogenic training (AT) is a simple, easily administered and inexpensive technique for retraining the mind and the body to be able to relax. AT uses visual imagery and body awareness to promote a state of deep relaxation. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether AT when used as an adjunct to physiotherapy (PT) improves motor performances in PD in comparison with a control group receiving PT alone. DESIGN: Randomized, controlled, single blinded trial. SETTING: Movement Disorder Clinic and Department of Physiotherapy, Sree Chithira Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology in Trivandrum, Kerala, India. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with PD of grade 2 or 3 of Hoehn and Yahr (HandY) scale (n = 66). INTERVENTIONS: AT group or control group. The techniques were administered by physiotherapists trained in AT and consisted of 40 sessions per patient over 8 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Motor score subscale of Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) was used to measure the motor performances. The primary outcome measure was the difference in motor score subscale of UPDRS scores between week 1 (pretest score), week 8 (posttest score), and follow-up at week 12 after randomization. RESULTS: The simple main effects analysis showed that the AT group performed better than the control group in weeks 8 and 12 (p < 0.005). Patients in the AT and control groups reported a 51.78% and 35.24% improvement, respectively, in their motor performances in week 8 compared with that in week 1, which persisted, in the follow-up (week 12) as 30.82% in the AT group and 21.42% in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that AT when used as an adjunct to PT is more effective than PT alone in improving motor performances in PD patients.

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