Article

Despite the pervasive nature of gait impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS), there
is limited information concerning the control of gait termination in individuals
with MS. The purpose of this investigation was to examine unplanned gait
termination with and without cognitive distractors in individuals with MS
compared to healthy controls. Thirty-one individuals with MS and 14 healthy
controls completed a series of unplanned gait termination tasks over a pressure
sensitive walkway under distracting and non-distracting conditions. Individuals
with MS were further broken down into groups based on assistive device use: (no
assistive device (MSnoAD) n=18; and assistive device (MSAD) n=13). Individuals
with MS who walked with an assistive device (MSAD: 67.8+/-15.1cm/s) walked slower
than individuals without an assistive device (MSnoAD: 110.4+/-32.3cm/s, p<0.01)
and controls (120.0+/-30.0cm/s; p<0.01). There was a significant reduction in
velocity in the cognitively distracting condition (93.4+/-32.1cm/s) compared to
the normal condition [108.8+/-36.2cm/s; F(1,43)=3.4, p=0.04]. All participants
took longer to stop during the distracting condition (1.7+/-0.6s) than the
non-distracting condition (1.4+/-0.4s; U=673.0 p<0.01).
After controlling for
gait velocity, post-hoc analysis revealed the MSAD group took significantly
longer to stop compared to the control group (p=0.05). Further research
investigating the control of unplanned gait termination in MS is warranted.
CI - Copyright (c) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS