Postural instability in Parkinson's Disease: influence of drug treatment and perceptual judgment of the lower limb position

• Grant number: 15/16215-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2015
• End date: May 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physical Education
• Principal Investigator: Lilian Teresa Bucken Gobbi
• Grantee: Priscila Nóbrega de Sousa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Perceptual judgment position deficits of the lower limbs contribute to postural instability in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, there are gaps in the literature about the relationship between perceptual judgment and balance, and the effect of drug treatment in PD. Thus, the aim of this study are: (I) to analyze the perceptual judgment position of the lower limb in people with PD with and without effect of medication, and compare them with neurologically healthy elderly, (II) to verify the relationship between perceptual judgment and performance in balance tasks. Twenty people with PD and twenty healthy elderly will participate of this study. The people with PD will perform clinical, perceptual judgment, and balance evaluation in "OFF" and "ON" states of the specific PD medication. The healthy elderly will carry out the assessments only once. The perceptual judgment evaluation will consist in the participants correctly estimate the knee and ankle joints by eletrogoniometer. The error, in degrees, between the target position and the judgment of position, on each trial, will be considered as a dependent variable. Balance tasks will be performed with eyes open and eyes closed in the following conditions: normal stand, stand on foam surface and tandem stance. A force plate will be used to analyze the center pressure variables during the balance tasks. ANOVAs will be used to analyze perceptual judgment and balance. Linear regression analyzes will be used to test possible predictors of balance impairment in PD.