Boxing study found better balance scores, with cognitive benefits still uncertain
A small Parkinson disease study recorded improved balance after non-contact boxing, without statistically reliable improvements in cognition, monitored activity or sleep.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Participants performed better on a balance test after the boxing program, but the study did not detect reliable cognitive improvements after correcting for multiple tests. Activity and sleep measurements also showed no significant change. Because the abstract describes a before-and-after comparison without a separate control group, the motor improvement cannot be attributed confidently to boxing.
This abstract describes a small feasibility study, without a separate control group. Its reported test changes do not establish benefits for daily functioning or longer-term symptoms.
What researchers found
Balance test performance
Mini Balance Evaluation Systems Test after 12 weeks versus baseline; statistically significant improvement.
What was assessed
Researchers examined whether a community boxing program was feasible and whether motor and cognitive test results changed afterward. A subgroup also wore activity monitors, allowing the study to examine movement and sleep measures.
Why cognition remains uncertain
Some cognitive scores moved in a favorable direction, but none met the corrected significance threshold. That leaves cognitive benefit uncertain; the absence of significant activity or sleep changes also cannot establish that no changes occurred.
The original publication
Cognitive and Motor Improvements Correlated with Sleep and Activity Following Community-Based Non-contact Boxing in Patients with Parkinson Disease.
Leguizamon M, Trujillo P, Hett K et al.
Arch Clin Neuropsychol · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41165167
- Record checked
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