Cognitive and motor dual task gait training exerted specific training effects on dual task gait performance in individuals with Parkinson's disease: A randomized controlled pilot study

PLoS One. 2019 Jun 20;14(6):e0218180. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218180. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Gait impairments in Parkinson's disease (PD) are aggravated under dual task conditions. Providing effective training to enhance different dual task gait performance is important for PD rehabilitation. This pilot study aimed to investigate the effects of cognitive and motor dual task gait training on dual task gait performance in PD. Eighteen PD participants (n = 6 per training group) were assigned to cognitive dual task gait training (CDTT), motor dual task gait training (MDTT), or general gait training (control) group randomly. The training was 30 min each session, 3 sessions per week for 4 weeks. Primary outcomes including gait performance during cognitive dual task, motor dual task, and single walking were assessed at pre- and post-training. The results showed decreased double support time during cognitive dual task walking after CDTT (-17.1±10.3%) was significantly more than MDTT (6.3±25.6%, p = .006) and control training (-5.6±7.8%, p = .041). Stride time variability during motor dual task walking decreased more after MDTT (-16.3±32.3%) than CDTT (38.6±24.0%, p = .015) and control training (36.8±36.4%, p = .041). CDTT also improved motor dual task walking performance especially on gait speed (13.8±10.71%, p = .046) stride length (10.5±6.6%, p = .046), and double support time (-8.0±2.0%, p = .028). CDTT improved single walking performance as well on gait speed (11.4±5.5%, p = .046), stride length (9.2±4.6%, p = .028), and double support time (-8.1±3.0%, p = .028). In summary, our preliminary data showed 12-session of CDTT decreased double support time during cognitive dual task walking, and MDTT reduced gait variability during motor dual task walking. Different training strategy can be adopted for possibly different training effects in people with PD.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Cognition*
  • Female
  • Gait*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Parkinson Disease / physiopathology*
  • Parkinson Disease / psychology
  • Pilot Projects
  • Psychomotor Performance*
  • Single-Blind Method
  • Walking*

Grants and funding

This research was funded by Ministry of Science and Technology, MOST 103-2314-B-010-002-MY3 to R-YW. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.