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. 2020 Jan;13(1):47-56.
doi: 10.14802/jmd.19043. Epub 2020 Jan 31.

Comparison of Spontaneous Motor Tempo during Finger Tapping, Toe Tapping and Stepping on the Spot in People with and without Parkinson's Disease

Dawn Rose  1   2 , Daniel J Cameron  3 , Peter J Lovatt  2 , Jessica A Grahn  4 , Lucy E Annett  2
Affiliations

Comparison of Spontaneous Motor Tempo during Finger Tapping, Toe Tapping and Stepping on the Spot in People with and without Parkinson's Disease

Dawn Rose et al. J Mov Disord. 2020 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: Spontaneous motor tempo (SMT), observed in walking, tapping and clapping, tends to occur around 2 Hz. Initiating and controlling movement can be difficult for people with Parkinson's (PWP), but studies have not identified whether PWP differ from controls in SMT. For community-based interventions, e.g. dancing, it would be helpful to know a baseline SMT to optimize the tempi of cued activities. Therefore, this study compared finger tapping (FT), toe tapping (TT) and stepping 'on the spot' (SS) in PWP and two groups of healthy controls [age-matched controls (AMC) and young healthy controls (YHC)], as SMT is known to change with age.

Methods: Participants (PWP; n = 30, AMC; n = 23, YHC; n = 35) were asked to tap or step on the spot at a natural pace for two trials lasting 40 seconds. The central 30 seconds were averaged for analyses using mean inter-onset intervals (IOI) and coefficient of variation (CoV) to measure rate and variability respectively.

Results: PWP had faster SMT than both control groups, depending on the movement modality: FT, F(2, 87) = 7.92, p < 0.01 (PWP faster than YHC); TT, F(2, 87) = 4.89, p = 0.01 (PWP faster than AMC); and SS, F(2, 77) = 3.26, p = 0.04 (PWP faster than AMC). PWP had higher CoV (more variable tapping) than AMC in FT only, F(2, 87) = 4.10, p = 0.02.

Conclusion: This study provides the first direct comparison of SMT between PWP and two control groups for different types of movements.

Results: suggest SMT is generally faster in PWP than control groups, and more variable when measured with finger tapping compared to stepping on the spot.

Keywords: Age; Finger tapping; Movement; Parkinson’s disease; Spontaneous motor tempo; Stepping; Toe tapping.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

This study was not funded, but the research was supported by the authors’ institutions, including the University of Hertfordshire (UK), Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Switzerland), McMaster University (Canada), and Western University (Canada). This study was conducted at the University of Hertfordshire as part of the first author’s postdoctoral research fellowship (2016-2018), during which a research visit to Canada resulted in the collaboration. The study was compiled at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 2019 as part of the first authors’ new role as a Senior Research Associate. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The group differences in spontaneous motor tempo (SMT) inter-onset intervals (IOI). The error bars display the standard deviation. An asterisk (*) identifies significant differences between groups (p < 0.05). FT: finger tapping, TT: toe tapping, SR: ss right, SL: ss left, PWP: people with Parkinson’s disease, AMC: age-matched controls, YHC: young healthy controls.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The group differences in spontaneous motor tempo (SMT) coefficient of variation (CoV). The error bars display the standard deviation. An asterisk (*) identifies significant differences between groups (p < 0.05). FT: finger tapping, TT: toe tapping, SR: ss right, SL: ss left, PWP: people with Parkinson’s disease, AMC: age-matched controls, YHC: young healthy controls.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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