The effects of cognitive dual task on gait's kinematic variables in people with Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is associated with postural control deficits, functional performance weakness, and an abnormal gait. Identification of the beneficial factors involved in improving motor performance of these patients is clinically important. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a cognitive dual task on kinematic variables of the gait in patients with parkinson's disease. Ten female patients with parkinson's disease (Already on Levedopa treatment) with mean age, height and weight of 59.6 yrs ± 3.6 yrs, 157.2 cm ± 4.4 cm and 67.2 kg ± 6.7 kg were included in the experimental group. 14 healthy females with similar age, height and weight were served as the control group. Using a H-Rez 3D Motion Analysis system, the movements of lower limbs were captured and the related kinematic variables were analyzed during walking with and without cognitive dual task. MANOVAs was used for statistical analysis (µ=0.05). Stride length of the control and experimental groups for normal walking were 121.9 cm ± 4.7 cm and 79.7 cm ± 6.1 cm, respectively (p=0.001). These values for walking under cognitive dual task for control and experimental groups were 127.3cm± 5.0cm and 86.4 cm ± 6.5 cm, respectively. In PD patients, stride length, walking speed, joint's range of motion and angular velocity at joints were of smaller amounts than those of healthy subjects. However, the double support in patients were greater than the normal subjects (p=0.001). Cognitive dual task resulted in an increase in the stride length, walking speed, hip's range of motion and a decrease in the double support time.Conclusion, Cognitive dual task can improve the walking pattern and is recommended to be implemented in rehabilitation programs designed for PD patients.