The Relationship Between Pain, and Freezing of Gait and Falls in Parkinson's Disease

To investigate the relationship between pain, freezing of gait (FOG) and falls in Parkinson's Disease (PD).

The study included 110 PD patients. The Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS) and Hoehn and Yahr Scale were used to evaluate disease severity. The patients self-reported occurrence of FOG and falls, and the FOG Questionnaire was administered to evaluate the severity of FOG. A visual analog scale (VAS) was used to measure the severity of pain and pain localization was self-reported by the patients.

Fifty-eight of the patients had FOG and 43 experienced falls. Among the patients, 42 had no pain, whereas 35 had lower extremity pain. Higher UPDRS motor and FOG scores, and advanced-stage disease were noted in significantly more of the patients with FOG and falls. VAS scores were not affected by the presence of FOG or falls. There was a positive correlation between the severity of FOG and VAS score in the male patients (r=0.308; p=0.010). More patients with falls had lower extremity pain than those without falls (r=0.308; p=0.010).

Patients with FOG and falls had more severe motor findings. Pain is correlated with both FOG and falls. Further investigations should be done to understand the mechanism of this relationship to prevent the motor complications in advanced PD.