Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's Disease

Launched by DUKE UNIVERSITY · Jun 25, 2013

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This study is a randomized, prospective, single-blinded six-week study in PD patients with freezing of gait (FOG).

This study will involve 2 study groups:

Group A - training group; Group B - no training group/controls.

Both groups will complete a gait evaluation and neuropsychological testing. Group A will also practice an in-home visuospatial task for 30 minutes, 4-6 days per week for six weeks. Group B will not complete the in-home tasks.

Participation in this study is expected to last 6-8 weeks.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Age: greater than 18 years old and without an upper age limit
• • diagnosis of idiopathic PD exhibiting at least 2 or 3 cardinal signs (bradykinesia, rigidity, and resting tremor)
• • Ambulate independently without an assistive device for at least 60 meters
• • Freezing of gait episodes confirmed through the FOG-Q and evaluation by a fellowship trained Movement Disorder neurologist
• • Willingness and ability to participate in training and complete training diary
• • Documented FOG-Q and Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) II
• • Ability to sign informed consent
• • Pregnant females will be included in the study and there are no known risks to the pregnant female or fetus
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Inability to complete questionnaires
• • Unwillingness to participate in training, complete all questionnaires and training diary
• • Subjects with secondary causes of parkinsonism
• • Significant dementia (MOCA \<20)
• • Prior deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery or pallidotomy
• • Subjects cannot participate in any form of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy or Speech Therapy during the study period
• • Subjects cannot start any new medications during the study period.