November 2015 CME Article No. 11: Gait Pattern and Cognitive Performance During Treadmill Walking in Parkinson Disease

Additional Information

Objective:
The aim of this study was to explore whether attentional demands are involved in gait improvements in Parkinson disease (PD) patients when they walk on a treadmill.

Design:
Nineteen individuals with idiopathic PD and 19 age-matched healthy controls participated in this study. Participants walked on a treadmill and on overground under single task (walk only) and dual task (walk performing a simultaneous cognitive task) conditions. The dual-task paradigm was used to reveal the attention allocation behavior. Gait pattern and cognitive performance was measured.

Results:
The PD group showed reduced gait variability when walking on a treadmill in comparison with overground. However, this reduction did not deteriorate during the dual task. Moreover, there were no differences in the cognitive performance between treadmill and overground walking.

Conclusions:
This study does not support the proposition attentional resource allocation as a possible mechanism for the treadmill-associated gait improvements observed in PD.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the influence of attentional demands on gait improvements in PD patients during treadmill walking
Verbalize the gait improvements demonstrated in PD patients following gait training on a treadmill
Understand the benefits of treadmill training as a therapeutic tool to improve gait in people with PD

Summary


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