Published in:
Open Access
01-12-2023 | Parkinson's Disease | Research
Carpets with visual cues can improve gait in Parkinson’s disease patients: may be independent of executive function
Authors:
Ze-Di Hu, Shi-Guo Zhu, Jie-Fan Huang, Jin-Yu Chen, Shi-Shi Huang, Rong-Pei Liu, Zhu-Ling Chen, Lu-Lu Ma, Xiong Zhang, Jian-Yong Wang
Published in:
European Journal of Medical Research
|
Issue 1/2023
Login to get access
Abstract
Background
Gait impairment is common in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, which greatly reduces their quality of life. Executive dysfunction is associated with gait impairment. Compensatory strategies, including visual cues, have been shown to be effective in improving PD gait. In this study, we aimed to understand whether carpets with visual cues could improve PD gait, and how the improvement varies across patients with different executive function state.
Methods
We designed carpets with chessboard and stripe cues. A total of 65 Chinese PD patients were recruited. Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale, L-dopa equivalent daily dosage, Hoehn & Yahr stage, Frontal Assessment Battery, Mini Mental State Examination Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Scale, and Hamilton Depression Scale were evaluated. Gait parameters including stride length, gait speed and fall risk were recorded by a wearable electronic device.
Results
The stride length and gait speed were significantly improved and the fall risk was significantly mitigated when PD patients walked on carpets with chessboard and stripe patterns. Further analysis showed the amelioration of gait parameters was independent of executive dysfunction.
Conclusions
Our study demonstrates that carpets with visual cues can improve the gait of PD patients even in those with mild executive dysfunction.