Everyday tasks impair spatiotemporal variables of gait in older adults with Parkinson's disease

Made available in DSpace on 2020-12-12T01:57:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-04-01 Introduction: Although it is known that individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) have difficulties performing dual-task activities, most of the studies have verified the effect of dual tasks on gait using tasks that are uncommon to perform while walking. However, the realization of tasks involving gait that really represents the daily activities carried out by the participants, allow us to detect real fall risk situations of individuals with PD during their gait. Objective: Our aim was to verify the influence of daily-life dual-tasks on gait spatiotemporal variables of the older adults with PD. Methods: 20 older adults without PD and 20 older adults with PD participated in the study. Gait kinematic was analyzed under three different conditions: walking without dual task, walking carrying bags with weight, and walking talking on the cell phone. Results: Older adults with PD presented lower speed (p = . 001), cadence (p = . 039), and shorter step length (p = . 028) than older adults without PD during walking without dual tasks. When walking while carrying bags with weight, older adults with PD had a lower speed (p