TY - JOUR
T1 - Reduced performance in balance, walking and turning tasks is associated with increased neck tone in Parkinson's disease
AU - Franzén, Erika
AU - Paquette, Caroline
AU - Gurfinkel, Victor S.
AU - Cordo, Paul J.
AU - Nutt, John G.
AU - Horak, Fay B.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Triana Nagel-Nelson for help with subject recruitment and data collection. This study was supported by the NIH R37-AG006457, NIH R01-DC004082, Swedish Brain Foundation, the Center for Health Care Sciences at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden.
PY - 2009/10
Y1 - 2009/10
N2 - Rigidity or hypertonicity is a cardinal symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD). We hypothesized that hypertonicity of the body axis affects functional performance of tasks involving balance, walking and turning. The magnitude of axial postural tone in the neck, trunk and hip segments of 15 subjects with PD (both ON and OFF levodopa) and 15 control subjects was quantified during unsupported standing in an axial twisting device in our laboratory as resistance to torsional rotation. Subjects also performed six functional tests (walking in a figure of eight [Figure of Eight], Timed Up and Go, Berg Balance Scale, supine rolling task [rollover], Functional Reach, and standing 360-deg turn-in-place) in the ON and OFF state. Results showed that PD subjects had increased tone throughout the axis compared to control subjects (p = 0.008) and that this increase was most prominent in the neck. In PD subjects, axial tone was related to functional performance, but most strongly for tone at the neck and accounted for an especially large portion of the variability in the performance of the Figure of Eight test (rOFF = 0.68 and rON = 0.74, p < 0.05) and the Rollover test (rOFF = 0.67and rON = 0.55, p < 0.05). Our results suggest that neck tone plays a significant role in functional mobility and that abnormally high postural tone may be an important contributor to balance and mobility disorders in individuals with PD.
AB - Rigidity or hypertonicity is a cardinal symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD). We hypothesized that hypertonicity of the body axis affects functional performance of tasks involving balance, walking and turning. The magnitude of axial postural tone in the neck, trunk and hip segments of 15 subjects with PD (both ON and OFF levodopa) and 15 control subjects was quantified during unsupported standing in an axial twisting device in our laboratory as resistance to torsional rotation. Subjects also performed six functional tests (walking in a figure of eight [Figure of Eight], Timed Up and Go, Berg Balance Scale, supine rolling task [rollover], Functional Reach, and standing 360-deg turn-in-place) in the ON and OFF state. Results showed that PD subjects had increased tone throughout the axis compared to control subjects (p = 0.008) and that this increase was most prominent in the neck. In PD subjects, axial tone was related to functional performance, but most strongly for tone at the neck and accounted for an especially large portion of the variability in the performance of the Figure of Eight test (rOFF = 0.68 and rON = 0.74, p < 0.05) and the Rollover test (rOFF = 0.67and rON = 0.55, p < 0.05). Our results suggest that neck tone plays a significant role in functional mobility and that abnormally high postural tone may be an important contributor to balance and mobility disorders in individuals with PD.
KW - Balance
KW - Functional performance
KW - Neck tone
KW - Parkinson's disease
KW - Postural tone
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U2 - 10.1016/j.expneurol.2009.06.013
DO - 10.1016/j.expneurol.2009.06.013
M3 - Article
C2 - 19573528
AN - SCOPUS:69749107882
SN - 0014-4886
VL - 219
SP - 430
EP - 438
JO - Experimental Neurology
JF - Experimental Neurology
IS - 2
ER -