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Abstract
Essential tremor (ET) is a common neurological movement disorder
occurring in 1 - 5% of the general New Zealand population. ET is typically
characterised by a kinetic tremor with the upper limb most often
affected. A number of pathologies have been proposed to underlie ET
however no definitive consensus has yet been reached.
The enhanced tremor symptomatic in ET can have a serious negative
effect on a number of areas including an individual’s quality of life (QoL)
and daily functioning. Therefore, finding an effective rehabilitation
therapy would be of significant value. Currently a number of medical and
clinical treatments such as non-specific medication, surgery and bio-
behavioural treatment have been proposed for ET. Each option
however, carries limitations, risks and varying levels of effectiveness.
A novel therapy option may be that of resistance training (RT). RT has
been shown to induce neuromuscular adaptations such as reduced
motor unit firing rate variability and upper limb co-activation. These RT
induced changes have been shown to reduce postural tremor and
improve manual dexterity in neurologically normal older adults.
Therefore this pilot study examined the effect of a general, short-term
dumbbell-based upper limb RT programme on upper limb strength, hand
and finger dexterity and quality of life in individuals with ET. Six subjects
(5 female, 1 male, age: 74 � 7 years, years diagnosed: 19 � 7 years) were
recruited with one being excluded from the results analysis due to an
i