Effect of spinal kypho-orthosis to gait and forward flexion in Parkinson disease.

The study included only 26 patients with Hoehn and Yahr stages 2 and 3, so it does not show what happens in people outside those stages. Freezing of gait, festination, fall risk, and other conditions affecting gait were excluded, so the result may not apply to many patients seen in therapy. The orthosis was worn only for a few minutes, and adaptation or fatigue over longer use was not assessed. The posture change was 0.9 degrees, and the paper says this has minimal clinical significance. The study did not compare the effect with age-matched healthy controls, so it is only a within-person comparison. The study was open-label, so participants and testers knew when the orthosis was worn. All testing was done in the clinical on state, so the result is limited to that state. Turn time and turning step number were checked clinically rather than derived from the motion capture output.

The work was funded by a grant from the Specialization project in Inje University 2016. The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Do not conclude that this orthosis improves Parkinson disease gait overall. Walking speed and step length did not change, and the turning benefit was measured only for a few minutes in 26 patients without freezing of gait or fall risk.