Article

Gait and balance impairments in people with Parkinson disease (PD) may lead to
falls and serious injuries. Therefore, it is critical to improve our
understanding of the nature of these impairments, including how they respond to
prescribed anti-Parkinson medication. This is particularly important for complex
balance and gait tasks that may be associated with falls.
We evaluated motor
function, functional balance, and gait performance during various gait tasks in
22 people with PD OFF and ON medication (PD OFF, PD ON) and 20 healthy older
adults. Although MDS-UPDRS-III score, Berg Balance Scale, Mini-Balance
Evaluations Systems test, and Timed-Up-and-Go improved in PD with medication,
impairments persisted in all measures on medication, compared to controls. Dual
task Timed-Up-and-Go did not improve with medication, and PD ON required more
time than controls. Gait velocity and stride length improved similarly with
medication in PD across forward, fast, backward, dual task forward, and dual task
backward gait tasks. Cadence did not change with medication, nor did it differ
between PD ON and controls. Velocity and stride length were reduced in PD ON
compared to controls. Velocity reductions in PD ON during fast gait were
cadence-mediated, while velocity reductions in backward gait were stride
length-mediated. Our results suggest functional balance improves with medication
in PD and gait performance improves with medication, regardless of task
complexity. Remaining impairments on medication highlight the need to examine
additional therapeutic options for individuals with PD to reduce the risk of falls.
CI - Copyright (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS