The effect of cues on gait variability--reducing the attentional cost of walking in people with Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) subjects have increased gait variability, reflecting greater attentional demand during walking. This study aimed to investigate the attentional cost of three cueing strategies by examining their effect on gait variability. Fourteen PD and 12 age matched control subjects were studied under single and dual walking tasks. Gait variability of PD subjects tended to reduce with all cues, the most consistent reductions in variability seen with a combination of an attentional strategy (focussing on big steps) and a rhythmical auditory cue. The reduction in gait variability of PD subjects with cues, suggests they may reduce the attentional cost of walking.