Carpets with visual cues can improve gait in Parkinson's disease patients: may be independent of executive function

Gait impairment is common in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, which greatly reduces their quality of life. Executive dysfunction is associated with gait impairment. Compensatory strategies, including visual cues, have been shown to be effective in improving PD gait. In this study, we aimed to understand whether carpets with visual cues could improve PD gait, and how the improvement varies across patients with different executive function state.

We designed carpets with chessboard and stripe cues. A total of 65 Chinese PD patients were recruited. Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, L-dopa equivalent daily dosage, Hoehn & Yahr stage, Frontal Assessment Battery, Mini Mental State Examination Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Scale, and Hamilton Depression Scale were evaluated. Gait parameters including stride length, gait speed and fall risk were recorded by a wearable electronic device.

The stride length and gait speed were significantly improved and the fall risk was significantly mitigated when PD patients walked on carpets with chessboard and stripe patterns. Further analysis showed the amelioration of gait parameters was independent of executive dysfunction.

Our study demonstrates that carpets with visual cues can improve the gait of PD patients even in those with mild executive dysfunction.