Gait Re-Training after Parkinsons’ Diagnosis

Dwight was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease after a traumatic brain injury, and had noticed a decline in his walking and was prone to falls. Due to limited access to his physiotherapist and Parkinson’s specific doctor, he sought out Plantiga to help him work on his walking more consistently.

In his first walk assessment, his walking speed was 0.83 m/s, which is below the clinically accepted threshold for high falls risk (1 m/s). This was a main focus for his movement analyst. Dwight would see his analyst every two weeks for walk assessments, and in between assessments he would work on what they discusses based on his data.

For 3 months, they worked on increasing cadence for 2 weeks, then increasing stride length, then increasing cadence, then increasing stride length while maintaining that cadence. His longitudinal data shows the fluctuation as he focused alternately on cadence and stride length, but his walking speed steadily increased.

In addition to speed, there was a focus on balance and confidence, which is often reflected in double support. Note that double support is also correlated with speed, but this metric was used as a means of knowledge translation, illustrating that if he could become more confident in being on one foot at a time, he could also walk faster. Balance drills were incorporated, and over the course of a year, Dwight reduced his double support from 28.48% to 18.99%. The norm for a healthy individual is 20%, so this was a very impressive improvement.

Over the course of a year, Dwight’s walking speed increased to 1.43 m/s, before he suffered a knee injury. His numbers have declined, but he is still using Plantiga to monitor his movement health as he waits for surgery.

Summary

With targeted training and guidance, Dwight was able to make significant improvements in his walking, going from a significant falls risk at 0.83 m/s to above the healthy norm for his age at 1.43 m/s. He has been able to regain some control over the Parkinson’s and continues to monitor his movement patterns with the help of his movement analyst.