TY - JOUR
T1 - The Relationship Between Ankle Proprioception and Functional Mobility in People With Parkinson's Disease
T2 - A Cross-Sectional Study
AU - Wang, Yejun
AU - Witchalls, Jeremy
AU - Preston, Elisabeth
AU - Wang, Zhen
AU - Zhuang, Jie
AU - Waddington, Gordon
AU - Adams, Roger
AU - Han, Jia
N1 - Funding Information:
We sincerely thank all our research participants who contributed time and effort to this research. Funding. This study was funded by the Shanghai University of Sport Overseas Visiting Program (Grant No. stf2018017), Program of Shanghai Academic Research Leader (Grant No. 20XD1423200), and Program for Professors of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning. National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31870936), China Ministry of Education (Humanities and Social Science Project Grant No. 18YJA890006).
PY - 2021/1/15
Y1 - 2021/1/15
N2 - Previous research has found ankle proprioception to be impaired in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the relationship between ankle proprioception and functional mobility in people with PD has not been fully investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine whether ankle proprioception is related to the functional mobility of people with PD. Forty-two participants with mild to moderate PD volunteered. Ankle proprioceptive acuity was measured in standing, by using active movement extent discrimination assessment (AMEDA). Functional mobility measures included the timed-up-and-go test (TUG), 30 s sit-to-stand test (30s-STS) and 10-meter walking test (10MWT). Step length and step cadence were recorded during the 10MWT. No significant correlation was found between ankle proprioceptive discrimination scores and any mobility performance measure in people with PD (−0.20 0.05). However, ankle proprioception scores were significantly correlated with step length (r = 0.38, p < 0.05) and step cadence (r = −0.30, p < 0.05), and were significantly and negatively correlated with the stage of modified Hoehn and Yahr (rho = −0.53, p < 0.01). The lack of relationship between ankle proprioceptive acuity and functional mobility in PD suggests that people with PD may be more limited by reduced sensorimotor integration or may rely more on other sensory input, rather than ankle proprioception, to achieve functional mobility, a finding consistent with sensory reweighting theory. In addition, poorer ankle proprioceptive acuity was associated with decreased step length and increased step cadence, suggesting that the shuffling gait observed in PD may be related to impaired ankle proprioception, which has important clinical implications for gait retraining in people with PD. Given that ankle proprioception was significantly and negatively correlated with the stage of modified Hoehn and Yahr, it may warrant being used as an objective biomarker to monitor the progression of PD.
AB - Previous research has found ankle proprioception to be impaired in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the relationship between ankle proprioception and functional mobility in people with PD has not been fully investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine whether ankle proprioception is related to the functional mobility of people with PD. Forty-two participants with mild to moderate PD volunteered. Ankle proprioceptive acuity was measured in standing, by using active movement extent discrimination assessment (AMEDA). Functional mobility measures included the timed-up-and-go test (TUG), 30 s sit-to-stand test (30s-STS) and 10-meter walking test (10MWT). Step length and step cadence were recorded during the 10MWT. No significant correlation was found between ankle proprioceptive discrimination scores and any mobility performance measure in people with PD (−0.20 0.05). However, ankle proprioception scores were significantly correlated with step length (r = 0.38, p < 0.05) and step cadence (r = −0.30, p < 0.05), and were significantly and negatively correlated with the stage of modified Hoehn and Yahr (rho = −0.53, p < 0.01). The lack of relationship between ankle proprioceptive acuity and functional mobility in PD suggests that people with PD may be more limited by reduced sensorimotor integration or may rely more on other sensory input, rather than ankle proprioception, to achieve functional mobility, a finding consistent with sensory reweighting theory. In addition, poorer ankle proprioceptive acuity was associated with decreased step length and increased step cadence, suggesting that the shuffling gait observed in PD may be related to impaired ankle proprioception, which has important clinical implications for gait retraining in people with PD. Given that ankle proprioception was significantly and negatively correlated with the stage of modified Hoehn and Yahr, it may warrant being used as an objective biomarker to monitor the progression of PD.
KW - ankle joint
KW - gait
KW - neurodegenerative diseases
KW - time and motion studies
KW - walking speed
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100169710&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fneur.2020.603814
DO - 10.3389/fneur.2020.603814
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85100169710
SN - 1664-2295
VL - 11
SP - 1
EP - 7
JO - Frontiers in Neurology
JF - Frontiers in Neurology
M1 - 603814
ER -