Gait spatial and temporal predictors for functional capacity tests in Parkinson's disease patients

Objective: To determine which spatial and temporal parameters are predictors of the gait pattern of individuals with idiopathic Parkinson's disease, for the aerobic endurance and agility tests included in the battery of tests of the AAHPERD protocol. Methods: Six men and six women with mild and moderate impairment and disease stage were selected. They performed agility and aerobic endurance test in accordance with the AAHPERD protocol, and walked 8 m on a walkway. A digital video camera recorded one central stride. Markers were attached to the fifth metatarsal and lateral face of the calcaneus of the right leg and to the first metatarsal and medial face of the calcaneus of the left leg. The dependent variables selected were the time taken in the agility and endurance tests and the kinematic variables: stride length (SL), cadence (CAD), stride time (ST), double support time (DS), single support time (SS), swing time (SW) and stride velocity (SV). Results: For agility, Pearson's test showed statistically significant correlations with SL (r=-0.70; p,0.05), CAD (r=-0.72; p,0.01), SV (r=-0.83; p,0.01), ST (r=0.71; p,0.01) and DS (r=0.90; p,0.01). For endurance, there were correlations with SL (r=-0.67; p,0.05), CAD (r=-0.72; p,0.01), SV (r=-0.82; p,0.01), ST (r=0.71; p,0.01), and DS (r=0.90; p,0.01). Multiple regression analysis revealed that DS was the only variable that predicted performance in both the agility (R super(2)=0.82; p,0.01) and the endurance (R super(2)=0.81; p,0.01) tests. Conclusions: It was observed that DS measure has a potential use as a kinematic parameter of gait that predicts the performance in agility and aerobic endurance tests in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease.