Muscle activation strategies of people with early-stage Parkinson’s during walking
Abstract Introduction Some people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) frequently have an unsteady gait with shuffling, reduced strength, and increased rigidity. This study has investigated the difference in the neuromuscular strategies of people with early-stage PD, healthy older adults (HOA) and healthy...
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doaj-1412de1b9c714f719de75425a5c382532021-09-12T12:01:20ZengBMCJournal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation1743-00032021-09-0118111510.1186/s12984-021-00932-1Muscle activation strategies of people with early-stage Parkinson’s during walkingSana M. Keloth0Sridhar P. Arjunan1Sanjay Raghav2Dinesh Kant Kumar3Biosignals Lab, School of Engineering, RMIT UniversityDepartment of Electronics and Instrumentation, SRM Institute of Science and TechnologyMonash HealthBiosignals Lab, School of Engineering, RMIT UniversityAbstract Introduction Some people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) frequently have an unsteady gait with shuffling, reduced strength, and increased rigidity. This study has investigated the difference in the neuromuscular strategies of people with early-stage PD, healthy older adults (HOA) and healthy young adult (HYA) during short-distance walking. Method Surface electromyogram (sEMG) was recorded from tibialis anterior (TA) and medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscles along with the acceleration data from the lower leg from 72 subjects—24 people with early-stage PD, 24 HOA and 24 HYA during short-distance walking on a level surface using wearable sensors. Results There was a significant increase in the co-activation, a reduction in the TA modulation and an increase in the TA-MG lateral asymmetry among the people with PD during a level, straight-line walking. For people with PD, the gait impairment scale was low with an average postural instability and gait disturbance (PIGD) score = 5.29 out of a maximum score of 20. Investigating the single and double support phases of the gait revealed that while the muscle activity and co-activation index (CI) of controls modulated over the gait cycle, this was highly diminished for people with PD. The biggest difference between CI of controls and people with PD was during the double support phase of gait. Discussion The study has shown that people with early-stage PD have high asymmetry, reduced modulation, and higher co-activation. They have reduced muscle activity, ability to inhibit antagonist, and modulate their muscle activities. This has the potential for diagnosis and regular assessment of people with PD to detect gait impairments using wearable sensors.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-021-00932-1Parkinson’s diseaseWearable sensorsMuscle activationGait analysis |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Sana M. Keloth Sridhar P. Arjunan Sanjay Raghav Dinesh Kant Kumar |
spellingShingle |
Sana M. Keloth Sridhar P. Arjunan Sanjay Raghav Dinesh Kant Kumar Muscle activation strategies of people with early-stage Parkinson’s during walking Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation Parkinson’s disease Wearable sensors Muscle activation Gait analysis |
author_facet |
Sana M. Keloth Sridhar P. Arjunan Sanjay Raghav Dinesh Kant Kumar |
author_sort |
Sana M. Keloth |
title |
Muscle activation strategies of people with early-stage Parkinson’s during walking |
title_short |
Muscle activation strategies of people with early-stage Parkinson’s during walking |
title_full |
Muscle activation strategies of people with early-stage Parkinson’s during walking |
title_fullStr |
Muscle activation strategies of people with early-stage Parkinson’s during walking |
title_full_unstemmed |
Muscle activation strategies of people with early-stage Parkinson’s during walking |
title_sort |
muscle activation strategies of people with early-stage parkinson’s during walking |
publisher |
BMC |
series |
Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation |
issn |
1743-0003 |
publishDate |
2021-09-01 |
description |
Abstract Introduction Some people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) frequently have an unsteady gait with shuffling, reduced strength, and increased rigidity. This study has investigated the difference in the neuromuscular strategies of people with early-stage PD, healthy older adults (HOA) and healthy young adult (HYA) during short-distance walking. Method Surface electromyogram (sEMG) was recorded from tibialis anterior (TA) and medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscles along with the acceleration data from the lower leg from 72 subjects—24 people with early-stage PD, 24 HOA and 24 HYA during short-distance walking on a level surface using wearable sensors. Results There was a significant increase in the co-activation, a reduction in the TA modulation and an increase in the TA-MG lateral asymmetry among the people with PD during a level, straight-line walking. For people with PD, the gait impairment scale was low with an average postural instability and gait disturbance (PIGD) score = 5.29 out of a maximum score of 20. Investigating the single and double support phases of the gait revealed that while the muscle activity and co-activation index (CI) of controls modulated over the gait cycle, this was highly diminished for people with PD. The biggest difference between CI of controls and people with PD was during the double support phase of gait. Discussion The study has shown that people with early-stage PD have high asymmetry, reduced modulation, and higher co-activation. They have reduced muscle activity, ability to inhibit antagonist, and modulate their muscle activities. This has the potential for diagnosis and regular assessment of people with PD to detect gait impairments using wearable sensors. |
topic |
Parkinson’s disease Wearable sensors Muscle activation Gait analysis |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-021-00932-1 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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