Category: Parkinson's Disease: Neurophysiology
Objective: This study aimed to find the comprehensive characteristics of locomotion in PD, including forward- and backward walking and turning, especially the impact of FoG.
Background: Locomotion is key component of daily living and comprises forward- and backward walking and turning. Walking difficulties including freezing of gait (FoG) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is well known and has significant influences on daily living. Though the gait of PD has long been studied but most studied one aspect of gait, forward-, backward walking or turning.
Method: Total 63 PD patients, who were non-demented and independently walking, participated in this study. Patients were grouped to freezer (n=28) and non-freezer (n=35) based on new FoG questionnaire. Three-dimensional motion analysis system recorded ‘off’ state forward- and backward walking and turning at their preferred speed. These results were compared with those of age-matched 14 control subjects.
Results: At forward walking, patient group showed shorter step length, slower walking speed, higher asymmetry index, and lower toe height compared to those of control. Backward walking and turning revealed same findings, but patients showed reduced range of motion in lower limb joints than control more widely. Further difference was found at turning, which showed more step count and longer step time in patient group. There was no difference at forward walking between freezer and non-freezer. At backward walking, freezer showed smaller step length compared to non-freezer. Longer step time, higher asymmetry index, and lower anti-phase was found in freezer at turning. The severity of FoG was correlated with step length, walking speed, and asymmetry index at forward- and backward walking, and total step count and step time at turning.
Conclusion: Patients with PD showed small and slow characteristics in locomotion, which were more prominent at backward walking and turning. Freezing of gait had further impacts on these characteristics of PD and the severity of FoG was related to its impacts. These results suggest it would be necessary to investigate various aspect of walking to understand the characteristics of locomotion in PD.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
S.M Cheon, G.B Lee, J.W Kim. Walking and Turning of Parkinson’s Disease – Impacts of Freezing of Gait [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2020; 35 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/walking-and-turning-of-parkinsons-disease-impacts-of-freezing-of-gait/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2020
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/walking-and-turning-of-parkinsons-disease-impacts-of-freezing-of-gait/