People with Parkinson disease with and without freezing of gait respond similarly to external and self-generated cues.
Adam P Horin, Elinor C Harrison, Kerri S Rawson and 1 others
PMID 32932076WHAT IT FOUND
Listening to music increased walking variability in all groups, while mental singing did not.
People with Parkinson's and freezing of gait responded like those without freezing. Those with the highest baseline variability improved the most when cued.
Key findings
01Externally generated cues (music) increased step time variability compared to self-generated cues (mental singing) and uncued walking, but self-generated cues did not increase variability.
02Participants with higher baseline gait variability showed the greatest reduction in variability with both music and mental singing cues.
03Higher step time, stride length, and single support time variability were all associated with falling history.
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
Participants had mild to moderate Parkinson's disease and relatively low baseline gait variability, which may have created a floor effect and limited the potential for improvement. Fall status was determined by retrospective self-report over the last six months without a formal definition of a fall, which may introduce bias. The study was not powered to detect differences in fall outcomes. Only a small number of steps (average 19.9 per condition) were measured, which may affect the reliability of gait variability estimates.
Declared interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that rhythmic auditory cueing is universally beneficial for gait stability. While it may improve velocity, externally generated cues like music significantly increased gait variability in this study, which is associated with higher fall risk. Self-generated cues like mental singing did not show this negative effect.