Multimodal Treatment Modality

INTRODUCTION Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a form of dementia that affects the brain and is most common in older age adults. People with AD most commonly experience symptoms such as an inability to complete activities of daily living (ADL’s) independently while also exhibiting signs of mental decline, most likely due to loss in brain mass associated with the progression of AD (Vreugdenhil, Cannell, Davies, & Razay, 2011). As prevalence of AD increases along with the cost of healthcare, new treatment modalities that slow the progression of AD more effectively would be greatly beneficial. One treatment modality is exercise.
PURPOSE
In this study, the efficacy of using exercise as a multimodal treatment modality to combat the symptoms of AD is assessed. A home based exercise program is administered to the treatment group to determine if exercise in patients with AD is effective at slowing the decline of physical and mental function, while also improving independence with ADL’s (Vreugdenhil et al., 2011). Aims are to see improvement in multiple areas such as mental health, physical condition, and independence. Vreugdenhil et al. hypothesize that exercise intervention can become an effective and uncostly treatment to reduce the symptoms onset with AD, leading …show more content…
As with every study, however, there are some limitations. One limitation is that success of the treatment group could be contributed to the social interaction the patients engaged in rather than the exercises alone. Also, the patients and their caregivers knew which group they were assigned to. Patients from both groups may try to predict the outcome after treatment, which could skew the results. Lastly, the treatment time was short. Longer durations could determine whether long term benefits are seen as well (Vreugdenhil et al.,