Obstacle crossing among people with Parkinson disease is influenced by concurrent music

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2010
Authors
Brown, Lesley
de Bruin Nutley, Natalie
Doan, Jon B.
Suchowersky, Oksana
Hu, Bin
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs
Abstract
Multitasking situations exacerbate gait impairments and increase the risk of falling among people with Parkinson disease (PD). This study compared obstacle negotiation among 10 subjects with PD and 10 nonparkinsonian control (CTRL) subjects in two test conditions differentiated by the presence of music played through a personal music player. Subjects walked the length of a 10 m walkway at a self-selected pace, crossing a 0.15 m obstacle placed at the midpoint of the walkway. The results indicated that subjects with PD crossed the obstacle slower than CTRL subjects and that concurrent music differentially altered obstacle crossing behaviors for the CTRL subjects and subjects with PD. Subjects with PD further decreased obstacle-crossing velocities and maintained spatial parameters in the music condition. In contrast, CTRL subjects maintained all spatiotemporal parameters of obstacle crossing with music. The alterations to crossing behaviors observed among the subjects with PD support our previous suggestion that listening to music while walking may be an attentionally demanding task.
Description
Open access
Keywords
Bradykinesia , Cues , Dual task , Fall risk , Gait , Multi-tasking , Music , Obstacle negotiation , Parkinson disease , Walking
Citation
Brown, L. A., de Bruin, N., Doan, J., Suchowersky, O., & Bin, H. (2010). Obstacle crossing among people witih Parkinson disease is influenced by concurrent music. Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development, 47(3), 225-232.