The Effects of Treadmill Walking on Gait Parameters in Individuals with Dementia with Lewy Bodies
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Date
2015-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Background: Individuals with dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) exhibit motor impairments similar to those seen in Parkinson’s disease (PD), including gait disturbances, thus increasing their risk for falls. While research suggests that treadmill training is a successful treatment modality in PD, our current study is the first to investigate its effects in the DLB population. The purpose of this study was to investigate the safety, feasibility, and effects on gait of a single 20 minute session of treadmill walking (TW) in individuals with DLB. We hypothesized that TW would improve gait velocity, and spatial and temporal gait parameters. Methods: This study utilized a one group pre-test/post-test design with ANOVA analysis. Eight individuals with a diagnosis of DLB underwent the 20 minute TW intervention. Spatiotemporal gait parameters in forward, forward fast, and backward walking were assessed with GAITRite before and after the intervention. Results: No abnormal HR or BP responses were observed during the intervention or testing. No adverse events occurred. Seven of eight (87.5%) participants were able to complete the TW and testing; 4 participants achieved their comfortable overground walking speed on the treadmill. There were significant improvements in temporal gait measures of comfortable walking post-TW. For example, we found an increase in stride velocity (71.22 ± 19.45 cm/s to 79.68 ± 23.43 cm/s; P = 0.028), a decrease in stance time (0.83 ± 0.04 s to 0.78 ±0.04 s; P = 0.006), and a decrease in double support time (0.47 ±0.05 to 0.43 ± 0.06; P = 0.012) post-intervention. There were no significant changes in spatiotemporal measures of backwards and fast walking gait parameters. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that TW is safe and feasible in individuals with DLB. All subjects improved on velocity and the majority of temporal parameters of gait exclusively in comfortable walking, suggesting that the benefits of TW may be task specific. Pace training on a treadmill with multiple sessions may be a beneficial intervention for individuals with DLB.
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Keywords
treadmill, dementia, physical therapy, safety, feasibility, gait