Gait training study

[Linda J Herman <ljherman1@xxxxxxxx>]

FROM: Nursing Times
Gait training cuts falls in Parkinson's disease
NT Online News
posted on 23 12 2004

Repetitive training can help patients with Parkinson's disease deal with
the postural instability that often leads to falls and even fear of
walking, according to new research.

A report in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry studied
14 patients who underwent a baseline-training phase, followed by 2 weeks
of repetitive postural training for 20 minutes twice daily.
The subjects repeatedly underwent analysis of compensatory steps, posture
and gait.

The patients were given visual feedback on a computer screen showing the
actual position of their center of gravity.
Subjects' step length increased, gait velocity improved and self-rated
mobility scores increased.
At 2 months, without further training, the improvements continued to be
stable.
'The repetitive training of compensatory steps is an effective approach
in the therapy of postural instability and should be applied if postural
instability is evident clinically or in patient history,' say the
authors.

Reference: Jöbges M et al (2004) Repetitive training of compensatory
steps: a therapeutic approach for postural instability in Parkinson?s
disease J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 75 (12) 1682-1687

 http://www.nursingtimes.net/nav?page=nt.news.story&resource=1635124

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