Reactive but not predictive locomotor adaptability is impaired in young Parkinson's disease patients

Gait and balance disorders are common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and major contributors to increased falling risk. Predictive and reactive adjustments can improve recovery performance after gait perturbations. However, these mechanisms have not been investigated in young-onset PD.

We aimed to investigate the effect of gait perturbations on dynamic stability control as well as predictive and reactive adaptability to repeated gait perturbations in young PD patients.

Fifteen healthy controls and twenty-five young patients (48±5yrs.) walked on a walkway. By means of a covered exchangeable element, the floor surface condition was altered to induce gait perturbations. The experimental protocol included a baseline on a hard surface, an unexpected trial on a soft surface and an adaptation phase with 5 soft trials to quantify the reactive adaptation. After the first and sixth soft trials, the surface was changed to hard, to examine after-effects and, thus, predictive motor control. Dynamic stability was assessed using the 'extrapolated center of mass' concept.

Patients' unperturbed walking was less stable than controls' and this persisted in the perturbed trials. Both groups demonstrated after-effects directly after the first perturbation, showing similar predictive responses. However, PD patients did not improve their reactive behavior after repeated perturbations while controls showed clear locomotor adaptation.

Our data suggest that more unstable gait patterns and a less effective reactive adaptation to perturbed walking may be a disease-related characteristic in young PD patients. These deficits were related to reduced ability to increase the base of support.