Journal
CLINICAL BIOMECHANICS
Volume 63, Issue -, Pages 140-146Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2019.03.002
Keywords
Falls; Parkinson's disease; Sit-to-walk; Trunk movement; Timed up and go
Categories
Funding
- Interdisziplinares Zentrum fur Klinische Forschung, Universitatsklinikum Wurzburg
- Fondazione Grigioni per it Morbo di Parkinson
- German Excellence Initiative
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Background: Falls are one of the main concerns in people with Parkinson's disease, leading to poor quality of life and increased mortality. The sit-to-walk movement is the most frequent postural transition task during daily life and is highly demanding in terms of balance maintenance and muscular strength. Methods: With the aim of identifying biomechanical variables of high risk of falling, we investigated the sit-to-walk task performed by 9 Parkinson's disease patients with at least one fall episode in the six months preceding this study, 15 Parkinson's disease patients without previous falls, and 20 healthy controls. Motor performance was evaluated with an optoelectronic system and two dynamometric force plates after overnight suspension of all dopaminergic drugs and one hour after consumption of a standard dose of levodopa/benserazide. Findings: Poor trunk movements critically influenced the execution of the sit-to-walk movement in patients with a history of falling. The peak velocity of the trunk in the anterior-posterior direction discriminated faller from non-faller patients, with high specificity and sensitivity in both the medication-off and -on state. Interpretation: Our results confirm the difficulties in merging consecutive motor tasks in patients with Parkinson's disease. Trunk movements during the sit-to-walk can provide valuable measurements to monitor and possibly predict the risk of falling.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available