Neural predictors of gait stability when walking freely in the real-world.
Sara Pizzamiglio, Hassan Abdalla, Usman Naeem and 1 others
PMID 29486775WHAT IT FOUND
Brain activity in the left posterior parietal cortex predicted gait stability in healthy young adults walking freely outdoors.
Different walking tasks engaged different brain frequency bands, suggesting this area monitors movement planning during real-world dual-tasking.
Key findings
01Left posterior parietal cortex activity predicted vertical gait stability during single-task and conversing walking conditions.
02Left posterior parietal beta activity predicted medio-lateral gait stability specifically during texting while walking.
03Walking speed and gait stability measures significantly decreased when performing dual tasks compared to single-task walking.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample size was very small (n=14) and consisted only of healthy young adults, limiting generalizability to clinical populations or older adults. The study used sensor-level EEG analysis without anatomical MRI data, so the precise neural sources of the activity are inferred rather than definitively localized. The predictive models were created post-hoc on the same data, which may overestimate their accuracy for new individuals.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these neural predictors apply to patients with Parkinson's disease or other gait disorders. The study was conducted only on healthy young adults, and the authors explicitly state that inclusion of clinical populations is needed for future work.