Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Institute of Veruno, 28013 Gattico-Veruno, Italy.
Rehabilitation Department, The Clavadel-The Geoghegan Group, 1 Pit Farm Road, Guildford GU1 2JH, Surrey, UK.
Sensors (Basel). 2023 Dec 28;24(1):179. doi: 10.3390/s24010179.
This study aimed to investigate and compare the vertical Ground Reaction Forces (vGRFs) of patients with Parkinson's Disease (PwPD) and healthy subjects (HS) when the confounding effect of walking speed was absent. Therefore, eighteen PwPD and eighteen age- and linear walking speed-matched HS were recruited. Using plantar pressure insoles, participants walked along linear and curvilinear paths at self-selected speeds. Interestingly, PwPD exhibited similar walking speed to HS during curvilinear trajectories ( = 0.48) and similar vGRF during both linear and curvilinear paths. In both groups, vGRF at initial contact and terminal stance was higher during linear walking, while vGRF at mid-stance was higher in curvilinear trajectories. Similarly, the time to peak vGRF at each phase showed no significant group differences. The vGRF timing variability was different between the two groups, particularly at terminal stance ( < 0.001). In conclusion, PwPD and HS showed similar modifications in vGRF and a similar reduction in gait speed during curvilinear paths when matched for linear walking speed. This emphasized the importance of considering walking speed when assessing gait dynamics in PwPD. This study also suggests the possibility of the variability of specific temporal measures in differentiating the gait patterns of PwPD versus those of HS, even in the early stages of the disease.
本研究旨在探究并比较帕金森病患者(PwPD)与健康受试者(HS)在排除行走速度混杂影响时的垂直地面反力(vGRF)。为此,我们招募了 18 名 PwPD 和 18 名年龄和线性行走速度相匹配的 HS。参与者以自身选择的速度沿直线和曲线轨迹行走,同时使用足底压力鞋垫进行测量。有趣的是,PwPD 在曲线轨迹上与 HS 具有相似的行走速度(=0.48),且在直线和曲线轨迹上具有相似的 vGRF。在两组中,直线行走时初始接触和终末支撑相的 vGRF 较高,而曲线轨迹时中间支撑相的 vGRF 较高。同样,每个相位的 vGRF 峰值时间在两组之间没有显著差异。两组之间 vGRF 时变的差异较大,特别是在终末支撑相(<0.001)。总之,当匹配线性行走速度时,PwPD 和 HS 表现出相似的 vGRF 变化模式和在曲线轨迹上的行走速度降低。这强调了在评估 PwPD 步态动力学时考虑行走速度的重要性。本研究还表明,即使在疾病早期,特定时间测量的变异性也可能有助于区分 PwPD 和 HS 的步态模式。