Objective: This study aimed to examine the hip and elbow joint angles during walking in Parkinson’s disease patients compared to healthy individuals.

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a complex, progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects motor and non-motor functions. The primary motor symptom is bradykinesia, which leads to slowness of movement, along with rigidity that causes stiffness. Bradykinesia and rigidity contribute to reduced joint flexibility in PD. Analyzing joint angles provides insights into disease progression, aids clinical evaluation and therapy planning.

Method: Six participants were involved: Five Parkinson’s patients classified by Hoehn and Yahr and one healthy control. Kinematic data were recorded using a wearable prototype device, measuring angular alteration of the hip and elbow joints on the affected side during gait. The data were processed to extract joint angles and compared between patients and the control.

Results: Two PD patients were in Stage I, two in Stage II, and one in Stage III. For the hip angle, the Stage III patient had the smallest mean angle which correlated with a reduced range of motion. Patients in Stage II and III had smaller hip angles compared to the control, while Stage I showed no significant difference. Elbow angles in Stage II and III patients were larger than in Stage I, remaining higher than in the control group. These results reflect rigidity and bradykinesia effects on movement and joint coordination.

Conclusion: Decreased hip and altered elbow joint angles corresponded with higher Hoehn and Yahr stages, indicating disease progression in line with the theory. Joint angle measurement can serve as an objective indicator of motor impairment. Future studies should include a larger sample size and broader Parkinson’s stages to improve generalizability.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/hip-and-elbow-joint-angle-characteristics-of-patients-with-parkinsons-disease/