title: Proprioceptive deficits in Parkinson's disease patients with freezing of gait.
abstract: Recent research has proposed that proprioceptive deficits may exist in Parkinson's disease (PD); however, proprioception has not been studied in those who experience freezing of gait (FOG). Proprioception was investigated through stimulation of proprioceptive receptors via patellar tendon vibration. In a force matching task to either 10% or 30% maximal voluntary contraction, response to vibration with and without vision of a force target was compared between 15 PD with FOG (PD-FOG), 16 PD without FOG (PD non-FOG), and 15 non-PD control participants (Controls). In a 15-s trial, vision of the target was provided for the first 10 s but in the last 5 s, four conditions were possible: (i) vision, no vibration; (ii) vision, vibration; (iii) no vision, no vibration; or (iv) no vision, vibration. The expected healthy response to vibration was an overshoot of the target. Controls and PD non-FOG did not perform significantly different with or without: vibration or vision. PD-FOG performed similarly to Controls and PD non-FOG in the baseline condition (i). Errors by PD-FOG on the other conditions (ii-iv) were significantly different from the baseline condition but were not significantly different from each other. The PD-FOG group significantly undershot the target when vibration was added [F((2,36))=4.8376, P<0.02] and when vision was removed [F((2,36))=4.8376, P<0.02]. It is suggested that any deviation from normal sensory availability contributes to severe deficits in PD-FOG.
authors: Sun Life Financial Movement Disorders Research & Rehabilitation Centre, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3C5.
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Tan
authors: Q J
authors: QJ
authors: Almeida
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Rahimi
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology; D020886:Somatosensory Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014732:Vibration