The Effect of Eye Exercises in Parkinson's Disease

May 10, 2026 updated by: Pardis Specialized Wellness Institute

The Effect of Eye Exercises on Physical Function, Balance, and Fall Risk in Patients With Parkinson's Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Parkinson's disease is commonly associated with impaired gait, postural instability, reduced physical function, and increased concern about falling, all of which contribute substantially to disability and reduced quality of life. Exercise-based rehabilitation is increasingly recommended as a core non-pharmacological strategy for improving mobility and balance in people with Parkinson's disease. In parallel, recent clinical and neurorehabilitation research suggests that eye-movement and gaze-stabilization training may influence postural control, visuomotor integration, and movement performance in neurological disorders, including Parkinson's disease. This randomized controlled trial will evaluate whether a supervised in-center eye-exercise program can improve physical function, balance, and fall-related concern in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized not only by tremor and bradykinesia, but also by impaired gait, postural instability, reduced turning ability, slowed mobility, and increased fear of falling. These impairments are major contributors to functional limitation, reduced independence, and decreased quality of life in people with Parkinson's disease. Recent systematic reviews and network meta-analyses have demonstrated that exercise interventions can improve physical function, balance, gait performance, and mobility-related outcomes in this population. However, balance impairment and falls remain highly prevalent despite conventional rehabilitation approaches, highlighting the need for additional targeted non-pharmacological interventions.

Visual and oculomotor dysfunction are increasingly recognized as clinically relevant features of Parkinson's disease. Abnormalities in saccadic eye movements, smooth pursuit, gaze stabilization, and visuomotor control have been reported in patients with Parkinson's disease and may contribute to impaired postural control, gait dysfunction, and difficulties with movement coordination. Recent studies in neurorehabilitation and eye-movement research suggest that eye exercises and visually guided training may positively influence balance control, mobility, and motor-related performance by enhancing sensory integration and visuomotor coordination.

Emerging rehabilitation studies have reported promising effects of structured eye-movement interventions on dynamic balance, walking performance, and functional mobility in individuals with Parkinson's disease. In addition, recent advances in eye-tracking and oculomotor assessment research further support the potential therapeutic relevance of visually guided interventions in Parkinson's disease rehabilitation. Nevertheless, high-quality randomized controlled trials investigating supervised eye-exercise programs in clinical settings remain limited.

Therefore, the present study will investigate the effects of a structured supervised in-center eye-exercise program on physical function, dynamic balance, and fall-related concern in patients with Parkinson's disease. The intervention will be delivered face-to-face in a controlled rehabilitation setting to enhance safety, standardization, treatment fidelity, and adherence. By focusing on clinically meaningful functional outcomes, this trial aims to determine whether supervised eye exercises may represent a practical and effective adjunct rehabilitation strategy for improving mobility- and balance-related outcomes in people with Parkinson's disease.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

34

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • Iran
      • Isfahan, Iran
        • Pardis specialized wellness institute

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Aged 18 years and older Clinically diagnosed idiopathic Parkinson's disease Hoehn and Yahr stage 1-3 Stable antiparkinsonian medication regimen Able to stand unaided and walk with or without an assistive device Able to provide written informed consent Able to attend supervised in-center exercise sessions Able to follow simple exercise instructions

Exclusion Criteria:

Severe cognitive impairment Unstable cardiovascular, orthopedic, or neurologic conditions that interfere with safe participation Active infection or acute medical illness Hemodynamic instability Severe visual impairment or other sensory impairment that prevents participation Recent myocardial infarction or stroke Unstable or changing antiparkinsonian medication regimen Any other condition that, in the judgment of the study physician, makes participation unsafe

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Supervised In-Center Eye Exercise Group
Participants will receive a structured eye-exercise program designed to train oculomotor control, gaze stability, and eye-head coordination. The program will be delivered face-to-face in the center during supervised sessions. Each session will last approximately 30 to 45 minutes, 3 sessions per week for 8 weeks.
Behavioral: Supervised In-Center Eye Exercises
The participants in the study group will perform the eye-exercise program in a supervised rehabilitation/clinic setting. The exercises will initially be performed in a seated position, with selected tasks progressed to standing positions as tolerated and considered safe by the supervising therapist. The exercises will be administered face-to-face by trained study personnel. The program will include progressive visual fixation, smooth pursuit, saccadic eye movements, convergence/divergence, gaze stabilization, and combined eye-head coordination tasks, with gradual progression in speed and complexity according to participant tolerance and safety.
No Intervention: Control group
Participants allocated to the control arm will receive standard neurological care and routine advice to maintain their usual daily activities. They will not receive the structured eye-exercise program during the intervention period.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in physical function
Time Frame: Baseline and 8 weeks
Assessed with the 6-Minute Walk Test. Greater distance indicates better physical function and walking endurance.
Baseline and 8 weeks
Change in dynamic balance
Time Frame: Baseline and 8 weeks
Assessed with the Mini-BESTest total score. Higher scores indicate better dynamic balance and postural control.
Baseline and 8 weeks
Change in fall-related concern
Time Frame: Baseline and 8 weeks
Assessed with the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I). Higher scores indicate greater concern about falling.
Baseline and 8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in functional mobility
Time Frame: Baseline and 8 weeks
Assessed with the Timed Up and Go test. Shorter completion times indicate better mobility.
Baseline and 8 weeks
Change in gait speed
Time Frame: Baseline and 8 weeks
Assessed with the 10-Meter Walk Test. Faster walking speed indicates better gait performance.
Baseline and 8 weeks
Change in lower-limb functional strength
Time Frame: Baseline and 8 weeks
Assessed with the 30-second sit-to-stand test. More repetitions indicate better lower-limb functional strength and endurance.
Baseline and 8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Pardis Specialized Wellness Institute

Investigators

  • Study Director: Mohammad Ali Tabibi, Dr, Pardis specialized wellness institute

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

May 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 6, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 6, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

April 13, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 10, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • PA26PKD-2-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Individual participant data (IPD) that underlie the results reported in the published article, after deidentification are to be shared.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

The data will be available after the paper is published. No end date.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Not applicable. It will be accessible for public.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • SAP

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Parkinson Disease

Clinical Trials on Supervised In-Center Eye Exercises

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in China

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe