Gait Analysis in Patients With Parkinson’s Disease: Relationship to Clinical Features and Freezing

Background: The purpose of our study was to investigate gait dynam ics and kinematics in patients with Parkinson ’s d isease (PD ) and to corre late these features w ith the predom inant c lin ica l features and w ith the presence of the freezing of gait (FOG). W e measured the temporospatial and kinematic parameters of gait in 30 patients w ith PD (M :F=12 :18 , age=68 .43±7 .54 ) us ing a com puterized video m otion ana lys is system . M ethods: W e d ivided the sub jects in to subgroups: (1 ) tremor-dom inant (TD) group and postural instability and gait disturbance (PIGD) group and (2) FOG group and non-FOG group. W e compared the gait parameters between the subgroups. Results: The walking ve loc ity and stride length were reduced s ign ificantly in the P IGD group com pared to the TD group. The P IGD group showed a s ign ificantly reduced range of m otion in the pe lvic and lower extrem ity jo in ts by k inem atics. S tride tim e variability was significantly increased and the pelvic oblique range was significantly reduced in the freezing gait disorder group. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that there are differences in the perturbation of the basal ganglia-cortica l circuits based on major clin ica l features. The reduction of the pelvic oblique range of motion may be a compensatory mechanism for postural instability and contributes to stride time variability in patients w ith FOG. Journal of Movement Disorders 1(2):59-64, 2008