Quantitative Measures of Gait Kinematics in Camptocormia Parkinson's Disease

Gait disturbance and camptocormia (CC) are common and debilitating in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). In this paper, sixty-nine PD patients performed a gait analysis using an optoelectronic system and were divided into two groups: PD patients with upper CC (PD+upCC, n=35) and without CC (PD-CC, n=34). Then, the spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters of gait and postural control in both PD patients' groups during single walking (GAIT) and motor and cognitive dual-task (MOT and COG, respectively.) were investigated. A statistical analysis was performed with IBM SPSS on clinical-demographic variables and gait parameters to find initial differences between the groups. According to the main results of this study, spatiotemporal parameters did not show statistically significant differences while kinematic variables, in relation to the angular movements of the trunk, pelvis, hip and the lower limbs (knee and ankle), allowed to have a detailed and objective description of how CC can influence postural instability and movement disorders in PD patients. In detailed, PD+upCC exhibited an increased antiversum tilt of trunk (p-value= 0.020, 0.010 and 0.007, for GAIT, MOT and COG task, respectively). This was followed by a reduction in the antiversum pelvic tilt (p-value= 0.049, 0.048 and 0.031, for GAIT, MOT and COG task, respectively). In addition, PD+upCC showed higher range of motion for hip, knee and ankle joint.