RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Sensory information is crucial when performing daily activities, and Parkinson's disease may diminish sensitivity to sensory cues. This study aimed to examine the detection threshold of passive motion of knee and ankle joints in individuals with Parkinson's disease. METHODS: Eighteen individuals in the early stages of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (age: 62.7⯱â¯7.3 years) and 18 healthy matched controls (age: 62.5⯱â¯7.1 years) first performed a simple reaction time test. Participants were asked to perform ten trials, during which they had to watch a square on a screen and press a button as quickly as possible when the square lit up. Thereafter, the participants were tested for their detection threshold of passive motion of their lower limb joints. Participants were seated in a specially designed chair and their knee or ankle joint was passively moved at a velocity of 0.5º/s. Participants kept their eyes closed and were instructed to press a button as quickly as possible when any joint motion was detected. RESULTS: Individuals with Parkinson's disease needed more time to perform the reaction time test than did the control participants. Individuals with Parkinson's disease also needed larger angular displacement, even when reaction time was used as a covariate measure, to detect any passive motion, in both knee (0.70ºâ¯±â¯0.20º) and ankle (1.03ºâ¯±â¯0.23º) joints than did the control participants [(0.57ºâ¯±â¯0.20º) and (0.84ºâ¯±â¯0.27º), respectively]. CONCLUSION: Impaired joint proprioception can be observed in the early stages of Parkinson's disease, which may compromise the use of proprioception cues from lower limbs.
Assuntos
Extremidade Inferior , Doença de Parkinson , Idoso , Humanos , Articulação do Joelho , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Movimento , Propriocepção , Tempo de ReaçãoRESUMO
Although postural control requires the integration of different sensory cues, little is known about the role of attentional artifacts on the individual's ability to properly respond to postural challenges. This study investigated the effects of concomitant tasks (cognitive and postural) on the relationship between visual information and body sway. Thirty healthy adults were asked to stand still inside of a moving room on normal and reduced bases of support. Initially, the participants were not aware of any visual manipulation and were asked to perform tasks that required concomitant attentional demands. Then, all participants were informed about the visual manipulation and were requested to resist it. The results showed that information about visual manipulation changed the coupling between visual information and body sway, but only in a less demanding task, and that it was affected by the concomitant task. The coupling between visual information and body sway for postural control does not demand attention on a regular basis, but any change in this relationship demands attention and occurs in less demanding postural tasks.