Effect of physical activity program in spatio-temporal parameters of the gait in elderly with Alzheimer's Disease

• Grant number: 11/00414-4
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): May 01, 2011
• Effective date (End): April 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physical Education
• Principal researcher: Lilian Teresa Bucken Gobbi
• Grantee: Diego Orcioli da Silva
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) causes various motor and cognitive disorders, leading to difficulties in activities of daily living, such as gait. Effective prevention strategies, such as regular physical activity, can result in significant benefits for the elderly with AD. The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of a program of physical activity with cognitive task in the mean and variability of spatial and temporal variables of the gait free in AD patients. Twenty and eight elderly will participate in this study, of both sexes, with clinically diagnosis AD and level of severity of AD between mild to moderate, according to clinical dementia rating. The sample will be divided into two groups: training group and control group. The experimental protocol will consist by cognitive assessment and evaluation of spatio-temporal parameters of the gait in the conditions with and without executive task, being 5 trials for each experimental condition. The kinematic data will be collected by a digital camera and the measurement procedures and two-dimensional reconstruction will be performed by Dvideow software. The program of systematic physical activity will be structured in order to promote frontal cognitive stimulation, in other words, it will be performed together a motor activity and cognitive task. The spatial and temporal variables of walking free with and without executive task will be analyzed by descriptive statistics and ANOVAs.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BARBIERI, FABIO A.; SIMIELI, LUCAS; ORCIOLI-SILVA, DIEGO; VITORIO, RODRIGO; STELLA, FLORINDO; GOBBI, LILIAN T. BUCKEN. Variability in Obstacle Clearance May (Not) Indicate Cognitive Disorders in Alzheimer Disease. Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders, v. 29, n. 4, p. 307-311, OCT-DEC 2015. Web of Science Citations: 2.