Reliability in one-repetition maximum performance in people with Parkinson's disease

Strength training is an effective modality to improve muscular strength and functional performance in people with parkinson's disease (pwp). one-repetition maximum (1-rm) is the gold standard assessment of strength; however,pwp suffer from day-to-day variations in symptom severity and performance characteristics,potentially adversely affecting the reliability of 1-rm performance. herein,we assessed the reliability of 1-rm in pwp. forty-six participants completed two sessions of 1-rm testing of knee extension,knee flexion,chest press,and biceps curl at least 72 hours apart. significantly differences between testing sessions were identified for knee extension (p < 0.001),knee flexion (p = 0.042),and biceps curl (p = 0.001); however,high reliability (icc > 0.90) was also identified between sessions. interestingly,almost third of subjects failed to perform better on the second testing session. these findings suggest that 1-rm testing can be safely performed in pwp and that disease-related daily variability may influence 1-rm performance. copyright © 2012 thomas a. buckley and christopher j. hass.