Journal
NEUROREHABILITATION AND NEURAL REPAIR
Volume 27, Issue 9, Pages 864-871Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/1545968313496328
Keywords
transcranial direct current stimulation; leukoaraiosis; training; white matter; gait; rehabilitation; small vessel disease
Categories
Funding
- Medical Research Council (United Kingdom)
- MRC [MR/J004685/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Medical Research Council [MR/J004685/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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Background. Leukoaraiosis describes ischemic white matter lesions, a leading cause of gait disturbance in the elderly. Objective. Our aim was to improve gait and balance in patients with leukoaraiosis by combining a single session of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and physical training (PT). Methods. We delivered anodal tDCS over midline motor and premotor areas in 9 patients with leukoaraiosis. Patients underwent gait and balance training during tDCS stimulation (real/sham). This was repeated 1 week later with the stimulation crossed-over (sham/real) in a double-blind design. Assessments included gait velocity, stride length, stride length variability (primary gait outcomes), and a quantitative retropulsion test (primary balance outcome). Results. Combining tDCS and PT improved gait velocity, stride length, stride length variability, and balance (all at P .05). Overall, training without tDCS showed no significant effects. Conclusions. Combined anodal tDCS and PT improves gait and balance in this patient group, suggesting that tDCS could be an effective adjunct to PT in patients with leukoaraiosis, for whom no treatment is currently available.
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