Locomotor Control in People with Parkinson’s Disease: Step-to-Step Randomness Increases During Dual-Task Walking

Presenter Information

Meghan PrusiaFollow
Shane Meltz

Advisor Information

Vivien Marmelat

Location

MBSC 201

Presentation Type

Poster

Start Date

6-3-2020 12:30 PM

End Date

6-3-2020 1:45 PM

Abstract

With Parkinson’s Disease (PD), walking is not automatic but becomes a cognitive task and requires attention. Walking automaticity is typically assessed when people walk while performing a secondary task (dual-task walking), but measures of walking automaticity during normal walking are desperately missing.

In this study, we tested the hypothesis that step-to-step variations reflect the degree of walking automaticity. Our main hypotheses were that step-to-step variations would be more random with PD compared to healthy elderly (HE), and in dual-task conditions for both groups.

Twenty-five people with PD and nineteen HE went through three 10-min conditions in random order: 1) listening to an audiobook, 2) walking over-ground at their preferred speed, and 3) walking while listening to an audiobook. Cognitive performance was assessed by asking participants to perform a word monitoring task and answering questions about the story after the trial. Gait was measured with instrumented insoles. Step-to-step variations were assessed with the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), where values closer to 0.5 reflect greater randomness.

Our hypotheses were confirmed: step-to-step variations were more random in the PD group (F(1,41)=4.906,p=0.032,η2=0.107), and decreased from single to dual-task walking for both groups (F(1,41)=12.202,p=0.001,η2=0.229). In contrast, there was no group difference for cognitive performance. We also found that participants with less step-to-step randomness performed better on the cognitive task.

Our results align with previous research suggesting that step-to-step randomness are a direct indicator of locomotor control. Step-to-step variations may be an indicator of walking automaticity, that can be measured outside of dual-task settings.

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COinS
 
Mar 6th, 12:30 PM Mar 6th, 1:45 PM

Locomotor Control in People with Parkinson’s Disease: Step-to-Step Randomness Increases During Dual-Task Walking

MBSC 201

With Parkinson’s Disease (PD), walking is not automatic but becomes a cognitive task and requires attention. Walking automaticity is typically assessed when people walk while performing a secondary task (dual-task walking), but measures of walking automaticity during normal walking are desperately missing.

In this study, we tested the hypothesis that step-to-step variations reflect the degree of walking automaticity. Our main hypotheses were that step-to-step variations would be more random with PD compared to healthy elderly (HE), and in dual-task conditions for both groups.

Twenty-five people with PD and nineteen HE went through three 10-min conditions in random order: 1) listening to an audiobook, 2) walking over-ground at their preferred speed, and 3) walking while listening to an audiobook. Cognitive performance was assessed by asking participants to perform a word monitoring task and answering questions about the story after the trial. Gait was measured with instrumented insoles. Step-to-step variations were assessed with the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), where values closer to 0.5 reflect greater randomness.

Our hypotheses were confirmed: step-to-step variations were more random in the PD group (F(1,41)=4.906,p=0.032,η2=0.107), and decreased from single to dual-task walking for both groups (F(1,41)=12.202,p=0.001,η2=0.229). In contrast, there was no group difference for cognitive performance. We also found that participants with less step-to-step randomness performed better on the cognitive task.

Our results align with previous research suggesting that step-to-step randomness are a direct indicator of locomotor control. Step-to-step variations may be an indicator of walking automaticity, that can be measured outside of dual-task settings.