1Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research centre, New Delhi
2Department of Therapies and Health Sciences, Faridabad Institute of Technology, Faridabad, Haryana
3Department of Neurology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
The use of external cueing techniques to improve Parkinsonian gait has received considerable attention recently. The present study is an initial attempt to compare the training effect of visual and verbal cues and examine the percentage of improvement with that of control group. Purpose is to investigate and compare the efficacy of visual and verbal cue training on parameters of gait in people with Parkinson's disease.
30 subjects diagnosed as idiopathic Parkinson's disease were recruited in the study.
Groups received training three times per week for three weeks. Subjects walked for total of 20 minutes by repeated 10-m long walk. In group 1, visual cues were provided at 110% of their initial mean step length that was progressed to 120% after 5 days of training. In group 2, verbal cues were provided with instruction to “take long steps”. In group 3 subjects were told to practice walking at home.
Within the group there was significant improvement in step length, stride length, speed in Group 1 and 2, but not in cadence. In group 3 there was no significant improvement. Differences of mean show statistically significant improvement in step length and stride length between groups 1 and 3 and groups 2 and 3 but not between groups 1 and 2.
The visual and verbal cue training both proved to be effective in improving gait parameters in Parkinson's disease subjects.
visual cue, verbal cue, gait and Parkinson's disease
