Date of Graduation
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Health, Human Performance and Recreation
Advisor/Mentor
Schmitt, Abigail
Committee Member
Butts, Cory
Abstract
Parkinson’s disease (PD), estimated to affect over one million people by 2030, is a neurodegenerative disease that damages the dopaminergic neurons located in the brain. Losing these neurons cause individuals with PD to experience impairments in basic motor and cognitive functions. Symptoms of PD often include bodily shaking, muscle stiffness, and abnormalities in gait and posture. Individuals with PD can also experience impairment when walking and performing secondary tasks, such as walking while talking, known as dual tasking. Dual tasking can lead to increased risk of falling or losing balance, as well as the inability to move freely while carrying out tasks and walking simultaneously. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to better understand gait measures during dual task walking in individuals with PD compared to individuals without PD. Methodology: Seven individuals with PD (72 ± 3 years) and seven individuals without PD (69 ± 6 years) were recruited to participate. Each participant’s gait was analyzed using 3-dimensional motion capture while they walked at 1) a normal, comfortable pace for single-task walking trials, and 2) a normal, comfortable pace while performing a fluency dual-task where they listed words starting with a specific letter. Gait parameters of interest included gait speed (m/s), stride length (m), step width (m). Dual-Task Cost (DTC) was calculated to determine the cost of completing a secondary task while walking. A series of two tailed, t-tests were used to compare the DTC gait parameters between groups. Results: DTC for gait speed did not differ between the PD group (25.2% ± 12.4) and the control group (21.5% ± 17.3, p = .700). Similarly, DTC for stride length did not differ between groups (p = .218: PD = 13.3% ± 7.8 vs Control = -8.7% ± 10.1). Lastly, DTC for step width did not differ between groups (p = .306), with the PD group increasing step width by 16.8% ± 11.0 during dual-task walking, while the control group increased their step width by 9.1% ± 15.9. Although not statistically significant, potentially due to the small sample sizes, comparison between group means suggest a potentially meaningful increased DTC in the PD group for all gait parameters. Conclusion: This study showed no significant differences in DTC of selected gait measures for individuals with PD when compared with individuals without PD.
Keywords
Parkinson's; Gait; Walking; Dual-task; Single-task
Citation
Miller, A. G. (2025). Dual-Task Cost of Gait Measures in Individuals with and without Parkinson's Disease. Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/hhpruht/130
