Low to moderate relationships between gait and postural responses in Parkinson disease
Ellen N. Sutter, Katie J. Seidler, Ryan P. Duncan, Gammon M. Earhart, Marie E. McNeely
Program in Physical Therapy, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, USA
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-2238
Lay Abstract
People with Parkinson disease often have impairments in how they move during walking and when responding to a loss of balance. Problems with walking and balance are often worse in people with Parkinson disease who experience freezing of gait, where they are unable to move their feet to take a step. We examined movement characteristics during responses to balance disruptions and also during walking in people with Parkinson disease who do and do not experience freezing of gait. Participants walked on an instrumented mat that measured walking speed and step length. Then, participants’ balance was tested using different clinical tests. We found that the relationships between the walking and the balance response measures were not very strong, and the relationships were similar in participants with and without freezing of gait. This suggests that walking and balance may be controlled by different brain mechanisms and may need to be assessed and treated separately in the clinical setting.
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