The potential of visual cues to overcome freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Freezing of Gait (FOG) is arguably the most disabling motor dysfunction in Parkinson’s Disease (PD), being pharmacological an unfeasible approach in the long-run, which justifies the emergence of non-pharmacological solutions. In fact, patients easily overcome FOG when it is provided a rhythmical temporal information (external cues), favoring a goal-directed gait (biofeedback systems). In this paper, it was intended to assess the tolerability and acceptability of a healthy group towards an augmented reality interface which aims to apply visual cues in temporal synchrony with heel-strike event by an augmented reality glasses. It is intended to be later assessed, the visual cues ability to facilitate motor activity in PD patients. The experimental setup comprised a group of 15 healthy subjects, being those instructed to perform a 30 m straight-walking along an unobstructed walkway, both in the presence of external cues and without any feedback applied. Questionnaires proven visual feedback to be perceived by the users with ease. Users reported interest and curiosity towards the system and proved to be keen to integrate the system into their daily life if they would ever face this disease.