Article

While much is known about the effects of dual tasking on cyclical and continuous
motor performance (e.g., locomotion), there is a paucity of information on the
effect of dual tasking on the initiation of movement. Therefore, the purpose of
this study was to investigate the effect of a concurrent cognitive task on gait
initiation in three groups: patients with Parkinson disease, healthy older
adults, and healthy young adults. We examined the anticipatory postural
adjustment displacements and velocities during single-task gait initiation as
well as two dual-task conditions: (1) 0-back + gait initiation and (2) 2-back +
gait initiation. The Parkinson disease group exhibited less anticipatory postural
adjustment displacement and velocity than their aged-matched healthy peers and
young adults during the single- and dual-task gait initiation settings (p <
0.05). Of interest was the finding of no additional effect on anticipatory
postural adjustment displacement or velocity of gait initiation during the
dual-task conditions in any group, including the Parkinson disease group. More
traditionally studied gait/balance dual-task paradigms have demonstrated both
motor and cognitive decline. Therefore, our results may suggest a prioritization
of more "intentional" movement task (e.g., gait initiation) while dual tasking in
Parkinson disease.

Langue : ANGLAIS