title: Gait improvement via rhythmic stimulation in Parkinson's disease is linked to rhythmic skills.
abstract: Training based on rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) can improve gait in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD). Patients typically walk faster and exhibit greater stride length after RAS. However, this effect is highly variable among patients, with some exhibiting little or no response to the intervention. These individual differences may depend on patients' ability to synchronize their movements to a beat. To test this possibility, 14 IPD patients were submitted to RAS for four weeks, in which they walked to music with an embedded metronome. Before and after the training, patients' synchronization was assessed with auditory paced hand tapping and walking to auditory cues. Patients increased gait speed and stride length in non-cued gait after training. However, individual differences were apparent as some patients showed a positive response to RAS and others, either no response, or a negative response. A positive response to RAS was predicted by the synchronization performance in hand tapping and gait tasks. More severe gait impairment, low synchronization variability, and a prompt response to a stimulation change foster a positive response to RAS training. Thus, sensorimotor timing skills underpinning the synchronization of steps to an auditory cue may allow predicting the success of RAS in IPD.
authors.affiliation: EuroMov, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, 34090, France.|WSFiZ in Warsaw, Department of Cognitive Psychology, Warsaw, 01-030, Poland.|Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, 75005, France.
authors.forename: Simone Dalla
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Bella
authors.affiliation: EuroMov, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, 34090, France.|WSFiZ in Warsaw, Department of Cognitive Psychology, Warsaw, 01-030, Poland.|Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.
authors.forename: Charles-Etienne
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Benoit
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.|Télécom Bretagne, Lab-STICC, Brest, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Farrugia
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.|MARCS Institute, Western Sydney University, Sidney, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.affiliation: WSFiZ in Warsaw, Department of Cognitive Psychology, Warsaw, 01-030, Poland.|Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital and University Leipzig, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.
authors.forename: Hellmuth
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Obrig
authors.affiliation: Neurologisches Fachkrankenhaus für Bewegungsstörungen / Parkinson, Beelitz-Heilstätten, 14547, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mainka
authors.affiliation: EuroMov, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, 34090, France.|Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.|Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Dept. of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sonja A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kotz
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000368:Aged; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills; D009146:Music; D000066530:Neurological Rehabilitation / Q000379:methods; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010507:Periodicity; D011897:Random Allocation