Natural Walking Intensity in Persons With Parkinson Disease.
Jaimie L Girnis, James T Cavanaugh, Teresa C Baker and 12 others
PMID 37016469WHAT IT FOUND
High daily step counts in Parkinson's disease do not guarantee moderate intensity walking.
Most participants accumulated minutes at very low intensities, with few reaching the 150-minute weekly target. Clinicians should ask patients directly about brisk walking rather than relying solely on step counts.
Key findings
01Most participants (90.2%) accumulated fewer than 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity walking (≥100 steps/minute) over a seven-day period.
02The majority of active minutes were accumulated at the lowest intensity level (1–19 steps per minute), with progressively fewer minutes at higher intensities.
03Longest sustained walking bouts occurred at the lowest intensity (12.7–17.9 minutes), while bouts at moderate to vigorous intensity were less than eight minutes long.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The device counted any minute with one or more steps as 'active,' potentially overestimating low-intensity walking minutes and bout durations. Intensity levels were defined by numerical step intervals without validated physiological thresholds for Parkinson's disease. The study did not capture moderate intensity physical activities other than walking (e.g., cycling or swimming). The sample was recruited for an exercise intervention study and may have been more active than the general Parkinson's population. No control group of healthy older adults was included for comparison. The study was exploratory and descriptive, without controlling for confounding factors like mood, cognition, or environmental conditions.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret high daily step counts as evidence that a patient with Parkinson's disease is meeting moderate to vigorous physical activity guidelines. The data shows that most participants, even those considered 'more active,' accumulated the vast majority of their steps at very low intensities (1–19 steps per minute) and failed to reach the 150-minute weekly target for moderate intensity walking.