Author(s): MARCOTTE, G., RIESCO, E., BEAULIEU-BOIRE, I., CHRISTOU, E., VAILLANCOURT, D., SAVOIE, F.A., Institution: UNIVERSITY OF SHERBROOKE, Country: CANADA, Abstract-ID: 1143

INTRODUCTION:
Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most prevalent movement disorders (Louis et McCreary, 2021). Exercise could be a good adjuvant treatment for ET, given its positive effects in other neurological conditions (Azevedo et al., 2023; Du et al., 2024; Gollan et al., 2022; Yang et al., 2025). This scoping review aimed to synthesize the existing research related to exercise-based interventions for ET, identify knowledge gaps, and suggest directions for future research.
METHODS:
Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, CINAHL, and EMBASE. Eligible studies had to be published in peer-reviewed journals, be written in English, include an exercise-based intervention in ET patients lasting at minimum 4 weeks, and report at least one outcome variable related to ET severity, functional capacity, or manual dexterity.
RESULTS:
Nine studies met the inclusion criteria. All studies used a pre-post, quasi-experimental design. Interventions lasted 4 to 8 weeks and included resistance (N=4), vocal (N=1), balance (N=1), dexterity (N=1), yoga (N=1), and physiotherapy (N=1) exercises. The mean sample size was 8.4 ± 6.0. Overall, significant improvements were found for ET severity (1/1 study), tremor severity (3/5 studies), manual dexterity (3/4 studies), and quality of life (2/5 studies). Surprisingly, no study investigated the effect of aerobic exercise on ET.
CONCLUSION:
This scoping review suggests that exercise-based interventions may alleviate some ET-related symptoms, but the evidence remains limited due to the absence of randomized controlled trials, small sample sizes, and both short and heterogeneous intervention protocols. Additional research, namely randomized controlled trials, is warranted in this space.