Citation

Mak MK, Yu L, Hui-Chan CWY. Eur. J. Phys. Rehabil. Med. 2013; 49(2): 153-159.

Affiliation

Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong - rsmmak@inet.polyu.edu.hk.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Edizioni Minerva Medica)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

23480976

Abstract

Background: Gait deficits are exacerbated during the addition of a concurrent cognitive task in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). The provision of auditory and/or visual cues has been reported to facilitate gait performance in these patients. Aim: To investigate whether individuals with PD could use traffic lights as an audio-visual cueing strategy to enhance dual-task walking performance. Design: Cross-sectional comparative study. Setting: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Population: Fifteen PD and 13 healthy individuals. Methods: All participants were instructed to walk at their natural pace, followed by 2 randomized conditions: 1) walking while doing serial subtractions of three, starting from a random number between 60 to 100; 2) doing the same tasks with the addition of traffic lights signals as audio-visual cues. Primary outcomes included stride length, cadence and gait velocity. Results: Individuals with PD had more deterioration in all gait parameters than healthy controls for both single- and dual-task walking. With the use of traffic lights, individuals with PD showed significant increases in stride length (by 8.8%), cadence (by 9.6%), and gait velocity (by 21.0%, P=0.000). Conclusion: Traffic lights could be used as combined preparatory and ongoing audio-visual cues to enhance dual-task walking performance in people with PD. Clinical Rehabilitation Impact: Positive findings from the present study suggest a promising treatment intervention to benefit people with PD, who often have to conduct concurrent cognitive task during walking in their daily activities.

Language: en