Locomotor Adaptation Deficits in Older Individuals With Cognitive Impairments: A Pilot Study

Gait dysfunction and fall risk have been well documented in people with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Normal locomotor adaptation may be an important prerequisite for normal and safe community walking function, especially in older adults with age-related neural, musculoskeletal, or cardiovascular changes and cognitive impairments. The split-belt walking task is a well-studied and robust method to evaluate locomotor adaptation (e.g., the ability to adjust stepping movements to changing environmental demands). Here, we capitalized on the split-belt adaptation task to test our hypothesis that a decreased capacity for locomotor adaptation may be an important contributing factor and indicator of increased fall risk and cognitive decline in older individuals with MCI and AD. The objectives of this study were to (1) compare locomotor adaptation capacity in MCI and AD compared to healthy older adults (HOA) during split-belt treadmill walking, and (2) evaluate associations between locomotor adaptation and cognitive impairments. Our results demonstrated a significant decrease in split-belt locomotor adaptation magnitude in older individuals with MCI and AD compared to HOA. In addition, we found significant correlations between the magnitude of early adaptation and de-adaptation vs. cognitive test scores, demonstrating that individuals with greater cognitive impairment also display a reduced capacity to adapt their walking in response to the split-belt perturbation. Our study takes an important step toward understanding mechanisms underlying locomotor dysfunction in older individuals with cognitive impairment.