Effect of freezing of gait and dopaminergic medication in the biomechanics of lower limbs in the gait of patients with Parkinson's disease compared to neurologically healthy.

Neuroscience letters 2023 May 29

filter terms:

This study aims to evaluate the effects of medication, and the freezing of gait (FoG) on the kinematic and kinetic parameters of gait in people with Parkinson's disease (pwPD) compared to neurologically healthy. Twenty-two people with a clinical diagnosis of idiopathic PD in ON and OFF medication (11 FoG), and 18 healthy participants (control) were selected from two open data sets. All participants walked on the floor on a 10-meter-long walkway. The joint kinematic and ground reaction forces (GRF) variables of gait and the clinical characteristics were compared: (1) PD with FoG (pwFoG) and PD without FoG (pwoFoG) in the ON condition and control; (2) PD with FoG and PD without FoG in the OFF condition and control; (3) Group (PD with FoG and PD without FoG) and Medication. (1) FoG mainly affects distal joints, such as the ankle and knee; (2) PD ON showed changes in the range of motion of both distal and proximal joints, which may explain the increase in step length and gait speed expected with the use of L-Dopa; and (3) the medication showed improvements in the kinematic and kinetic parameters of the gait of people with pwFoG and pwoFoG equally; (4) pwPD showed a smaller second peak of the vertical component of the GRF than the control. The presence of FoG mainly affects distal joints, such as the ankle and knee. PD presents a lower application of GRF during the impulse period than healthy people, causing lower gait performances. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

Thiago Kenzo Fujioka Shida, Claudia Eunice Neves de Oliveira, Débora da Silva Fragoso de Campos, Emanuele Los Angeles, Claudionor Bernardo, Luana Dos Santos de Oliveira, Layla Cupertino Salloum E Silva, Thayna Magalhães Novaes, Solaiman Shokur, Mohamed Bouri, Daniel Boari Coelho. Effect of freezing of gait and dopaminergic medication in the biomechanics of lower limbs in the gait of patients with Parkinson's disease compared to neurologically healthy. Neuroscience letters. 2023 May 29;806:137250