Walk characteristics among younger and older groups of patients with Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Walking disorders are among the most important problems of motor functioning of people with Parkinson's disease. As a rule, these disorders are mild at the beginning of the disease and do not cause significant problems,but in the further course of the disease they progress to a degree when they cause severe disability.The aim of the research is to determine and compare the characteristics of the walk of a younger and older group of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease.The research covered 40 examinees, experimental and control groups, conducted at the Clinic for Neurology and the Institute for Medical Research, University of Belgrade, in the period December-February, 2017/2018.The parameters of the walk are shown in the paper: duration of the cycle of walk, step length and time of swing.To measure the characteristics of the walk, a measuring tape with sensors sensitive to pressure was used - GAITRite Electronic Walkway System. Byusing Mann-Witney U the test, we found that there were no statistically significant differences in the values obtained by measuring the characteristics of the walk.Compared to younger subjects with Parkinson's disease with an older group of Parkinson's disease patients, minimal differences were found, as was the case in comparison to those with Parkinson's disease with healthy subjects. The obtained differences, although not statistically significant, indicate the possible influence of factors such as age and absence / presence of disease on the parameters of the walk, which requires a deeper analysis of future research.