Association between Severity of Freezing of Gait and Turning Characteristics in People with Parkinson's Disease

Hyejin Choi; Changhong Youm; Hwayoung Park; Bohyun Kim; Sang-Myung Cheon; Myeounggon Lee

doi:10.3390/ijerph191912131

Association between Severity of Freezing of Gait and Turning Characteristics in People with Parkinson's Disease

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 25;19(19):12131. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191912131.

Authors

Hyejin Choi¹, Changhong Youm^{1

2}, Hwayoung Park¹, Bohyun Kim¹, Sang-Myung Cheon³, Myeounggon Lee⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Sciences, The Graduate School, Dong-A University, Saha-gu, Busan 49315, Korea.
² Department of Health Care and Science, Dong-A University, Saha-gu, Busan 49315, Korea.
³ Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Dong-A University, Seo-gu, Busan 49201, Korea.
⁴ Interdisciplinary Consortium on Advanced Motion Performance (iCAMP), Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.

Abstract

For people with Parkinson's disease (PD) with freezing of gait (FOG) (freezers), symptoms mainly exhibit as unilateral motor impairments that may cause difficulty during postural transitions such as turning during daily activities. We investigated the turning characteristics that distinguished freezers among people with PD and analyzed the association between the New Freezing of Gait Questionnaire (NFOGQ) scores and the gait characteristics according to the turning direction for the affected limbs of freezers. The study recruited 57 people with PD (27 freezers, 30 non-freezers). All experiments measured the maximum 180° turning task with the "Off" medication state. Results revealed that the outer ankle range of motion in the direction of the inner step of the more affected limb (IMA) was identified to distinguish freezers and non-freezers (R_N² = 0.735). In addition, higher NFOGQ scores were associated with a more significant anteroposterior root mean square distance of the center of mass in the IMA direction and a greater inner stance phase in the outer step of the more affected limb (OMA) direction; explanatory power was 50.1%. Assessing the maximum speed and turning direction is useful for evaluating the differences in turning characteristics between freezers and non-freezers, which can help define freezers more accurately.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; freezing of gait; gait; kinematics; motor deficits.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Gait
Gait Disorders, Neurologic* / etiology
Humans
Lower Extremity
Parkinson Disease* / complications
Parkinson Disease* / drug therapy
Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Dong-A University research fund. The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review or approval of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.