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An evaluation of self-administration of auditory cueing to improve gait in people with Parkinson’s disease

¹ School of Health Professions, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA
² Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA
³ Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine and Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, USA
⁴ School of Health Professions, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mon.bryant{at}yahoo.com.

	Abstract

Objective: To evaluate a self-administration of auditory cueing on gait difficulties in people with Parkinson’s disease over a one-week period.

Design: Single group pre and post test.

Setting: Research lab, community.

Participants: Twenty-one individuals with Parkinson’s disease.

Interventions: Self-application of an auditory pacer set at a rate 25% faster than preferred cadence.

Main outcome measures: Self-selected gait speed, cadence, stride length, and double support time with and without the pacer at the initial visit and after one week of pacer use.

Results: During the initial visit, the auditory pacer improved gait speed (79.57 (18.13) cm/s vs. 94.02 (22.61) cm/s, P < 0.0005), cadence (102.88 (11.34) step/min vs. 109.22 (10.23) steps/min, P = 0.036) and stride length (94.33 (21.31) cm vs. 103.5 (22.65) cm, P = 0.012). After one week, preferred gait speed was faster than the initial preferred speed (79.57 (18.13) vs. 95.20 (22.23) cm/s, P < 0.0005). Stride length was significantly increased (94.33 (21.31) vs. 107.67 (20.01) cm, P = 0.001). Double support time was decreased from 21.73 (5.23) to 18.94 (3.59)% gait cycle, P = 0.016.

Conclusion: Gait performance in people with Parkinson’s disease improved significantly after walking with the auditory pacer for one week.

First published on September 28, 2009
Clinical Rehabilitation 2009, doi:10.1177/0269215509337465


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