The effect of rhythmic somatosensory cueing on gait in patients with Parkinson's disease

van Wegen, Erwin, de Goede, Cees, Lim, Inge, Rietberg, Marc, Nieuwboer, Alice, Willems, Anne-Marie, Jones, Diana, Rochester, Lynn, Hetherington, Victoria, Berendse, Henk, Zijlmans, Josjan, Wolters, Erik and Kwakkel, Gert (2006) The effect of rhythmic somatosensory cueing on gait in patients with Parkinson's disease. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 248 (1-2). pp. 210-214. ISSN 0022-510X

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

Background and aims
Gait and gait related activities in patients with Parkinson'sdisease (PD) can be improved with rhythmic auditory cueing (e.g. a metronome). In the context of a large European study, a portable prototype cueing device was developed to provide an alternative for rhythmic auditory cueing: rhythmicsomatosensorycueing (RSC, a miniature vibrating cylinder attached to the wrist). We investigated whether PD patients could adapt their walking pattern using RSC under conditions of changing walking speed and the presence of potentially distracting visual flow while walking on a treadmill.

Methods
A total of 17 patients with PD participated (mean age 63.4 ± 10.3 years; Hoehn-Yahr score 2.5 ± 0.9, mean Unified Parkinson'sDisease Rating Scale score 49.8 ± 13.7, mean disease duration 7.7 ± 5.1 years). They performed systematic walking speed manipulations under 4 conditions in a random order: (1) no cue, no visual flow, (2) no cue, visual flow, (3) cue, no visual flow and (4) cue, visual flow. Visual flow in the form of a virtual corridor that moved at the current walking speed was projected on a 2 × 2 m rear-projection screen. The cueing rhythm was set at − 10% of preferred stride frequency at each speed. Stride frequency was assessed using peaks in the trajectories of thigh sagittal plane segmental angles.

Results
Walking with RSC resulted in lower stride frequencies, and thus larger step lengths (p-values < 0.05), regardless of walking speed. The presence of visual flow did not impair the use of RSC, as evidenced by the lack of differences between conditions 3 and 4 (p > 0.05).

Conclusion
Rhythmic somatosensory cueing may be a viable alternative for auditory cueing and is robust to changes in walking speed and visual distractors.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	A900 Others in Medicine and Dentistry
Department:	Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing
Depositing User:	Ay Okpokam
Date Deposited:	27 Mar 2012 11:30
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2019 14:38
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/5883

Downloads