Characteristics of gait freezing: Possibilities for rehabilitation

Author

Rahimi, Fariborz ; Si Yu Xian ; Delrobaei, Mehdi ; Jog, Mandar

Author_Institution

Nat. Parkinson Found. Centre of Excellence, Lawson Health Res. Inst., London, ON, Canada

fYear

2013

fDate

6-8 Nov. 2013

Firstpage

1594

Lastpage

1597

Abstract

Freezing of gait is a debilitating symptom that affects mobility in Parkinson disease (PD) patients. In this study, we examined mean center of pressure (CoP) for patients during freezing and compared them against mean CoP during standing and walking. Patients experienced a significantly forward CoP (p<;0.01) during freezing than standing and walking, which is associated with an increased risk of falling. Absolute mean CoP differences between left and right foot represent an out of phase CoP profile during freezing. These findings can be used to suggest new strategies for fall prevention as well as freeze breaking strategies.

Keywords

accident prevention; biomedical measurement; diseases; gait analysis; neurophysiology; patient rehabilitation; CoP profile phase; Parkinson disease patient mobility; absolute mean CoP difference; disease symptom; fall prevention; falling risk; freeze breaking strategy; freezing condition; gait freezing characteristics; left foot mean CoP; mean center of pressure; rehabilitation; right foot mean CoP; standing condition; walking condition; Educational institutions; Foot; History; Laboratories; Legged locomotion; Parkinson´s disease;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Neural Engineering (NER), 2013 6th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on

Conference_Location

San Diego, CA

ISSN

1948-3546

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NER.2013.6696253

Filename

6696253