Dynamic balance and locomotor behavior of elderly people with Parkinson's Disease

• Grant number: 05/00775-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2005
• End date: July 31, 2007
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physical Education
• Principal Investigator: Lilian Teresa Bucken Gobbi
• Grantee: Rodrigo Vitório
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The presence of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) symptoms lead the patient motor control system to create changes in the motor patterns, called adaptive strategies. Those strategies are defined as two or more behavioral variants in direction to the same functional end and they are generated to guarantee success of the motor action. In this study, the locomotor behavior of the elderly patient with PD will be analyzed during the performance of different locomotor tasks: walking on a balance beam, walking over an even surface in different speeds and walking over an obstacle. The aim of this study is to analyze the locomotor behavior of elderly patients with PD in order to establish the adaptive locomotor strategies used to control dynamical balance and efector system. Elderly individuals with PD in a light to moderate stage will be selected (Unifying Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and Hoehn & Yahr scale). Exclusion criteria are: age under 55 years and PD stage over level 3. Each participant will be invited to perform the following protocol: Anthropometrics measures (body mass, stature, segmental lengths of the lower limb); Physical activity level (Baecke questionnaire modified for elderly); Functional capacity (AAHPERD motor tests); Dynamical balance (Berg evaluation scale and walk on a 10cm high balance beam); Crossing over obstacle (walk and crossing over obstacles of different heights); and Locomotion in different speeds (walk in slow, preferred, and fast speeds). For cinematic register (a digital camera, 30 Hz, JVC trademark, GR-DVL 9800 model) of the lower limb trajectory during of the tasks performance, 4 passive markers will be fixed on the following anatomic landmarks: fifth metatarsal, calcaneus lateral face, fibula lateral malleolus, and knee. The images will be captured by a video board (Pinnacle trademark, Studio DV model, 1.05.307 version), attached to a computer. The photometric procedure (images deinterlacement, synchronization, measure, and calibration) will be done by the Digital Video for Windows software. In order to calculate the dependent variables and to build the graphs, the data will be filtered by means of Butterworth digital filter at 5 Hz using the Matlab software. Dependent variables. In the stride done in the central area of the beam and the locomotion pathway, and the approach phase to obstacle, they will be: stride length, step length, stride duration, support phase duration and swing phase duration; and in the obstacle task, they will be: foot placement prior to the obstacle (FPPO) and after the obstacle (FPAO), and toe clearance (TC). The dependent variables in each task will be analyzed statistically by ANOVA and, if necessary, by Scheffé’s post hoc tests, with a significance level of p<0.05. (AU)

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)

PIERUCCINI-FARIA, F.; VITORIO, R.; ALMEIDA, Q. J.; SILVEIRA, C. R. A.; CAETANO, M. J. D.; STELLA, F.; GOBBI, S.; GOBBI, L. T. B.. Evaluating the Acute Contributions of Dopaminergic Replacement to Gait With Obstacles in Parkinson's Disease. JOURNAL OF MOTOR BEHAVIOR, v. 45, n. 5, p. 369-380, SEP 1 2013. (05/00775-6)

VITORIO, RODRIGO; PIERUCCINI-FARIA, FREDERICO; STELLA, FLORINDO; GOBBI, SEBASTIAO; BUCKEN GOBBI, LILIAN TERESA. Effects of obstacle height on obstacle crossing in mild Parkinson's disease. GAIT & POSTURE, v. 31, n. 1, p. 143-146, JAN 2010. (05/00775-6)