Effect of musical cues on gait in individuals with Parkinson disease with comorbid dementia.
Lauren E Tueth, Allison M Haussler, Keith R Lohse and 3 others
PMID 37891141WHAT IT FOUND
No reliable evidence that music or mental singing cues improved gait speed, cadence, or stride length in people with Parkinson disease and dementia.
Faster cues did not help; slower cues made walking slower.
Key findings
01Music and mental singing cues did not show different effects on velocity, cadence, or stride length.
02Faster cue rates of 110% and 120% did not show an increase in velocity, cadence, or stride length.
03At the 90% cue rate, velocity was lower than at the 100% cue rate.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study included only 17 people, and one completed only two trials of each condition because of fatigue. It was a single-center within-group crossover with no control group, so it cannot compare these cues with another condition. Participants had mild to moderate Parkinson disease and very mild to mild dementia, could walk for ten continuous minutes independently, and did not have moderately or significantly disturbing freezing episodes, so results may not apply to more severe disease or troublesome freezing. Participants were only told to walk to the beat, not given an explicit instruction to take bigger steps or otherwise modify gait. Individual responses varied: most lines in the figure were flat, but some showed clear increases from 90% to 120%.
Declared interests
No author conflict-of-interest statement is provided in the supplied text. The article is tagged as NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that music or mental singing improves gait in Parkinson disease with dementia. Music and mental singing did not differ, faster cues did not increase gait parameters, and only the 90% cue made velocity lower than the 100% cue.