The Effects of Treadmill Training With Visual and Auditory Cues on Gait Parameters in Parkinsonian Patients in Advanced Stages of Disease.

Gait is altered in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. It has been shown that treadmill training with visual and auditory cues is useful in improving the gait's parameters in patients in early-moderate stages of disease. No data are available about the effectiveness of this training in those subjects in advanced stages of PD. The first aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a gait training using treadmill with visual and auditory cues in patients in stages IV Hoehn & Yahr (H&Y). The second aim was to compare the obtained data of these patients in advanced stages with those in mild to moderate stages.

150 patients with PD in early-moderate and advanced stages of disease (50 in H&Y stage 2, group 1, 50 in H&Y stage 3, group 2 and 50 in H&Y stage 4, group 3) were enrolled. All patients underwent an intensive treatment: 20-minutes treadmill training per day, 6 times a week, for 4 weeks. Treadmill speed was previously set at 2.0 km/h and progressively increased until a maximum of 3.5 km/h, taking always into account the patients' physical abilities. All patients were evaluated at the enrolment and at the end of the 4-weeks treatment. The first evaluation consisted in one-minute walking on treadmill without the use of cues at 1.5 km/h speed, for all patients. The outcome measurements were: the average length of the right step, the average length of the left step, the coefficient of variance of both steps, and the gait cycle.