Frontal Cortex and Gait Freezing in Parkinson's Disease: Rehabilitation Impact

Frontal Cortex and Gait Freezing in Parkinson's Disease: Rehabilitation Impact

This project will relate our new quantification of Freezing of Gait (FoG) in Parkinson's disease, using body worn inertial sensors (Aim I), with abnormalities in state-of-the-art, resting state, functional brain connectivity (Aim II), and determine the number of subjects needed for a future, randomized clinical trial to test the efficacy of our novel, Agility Boot Camp (ABC) rehabilitation intervention for FoG (Aim III). The technological approaches to these aims are cutting edge and will allow us to develop sensitive behavioral and brain biomarkers for gait disorders in Parkinson's disease (PD) for use in future clinical trials.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged 50-90 years old.
• No musculoskeletal or peripheral or central nervous system disorders (other than idiopathic Parkinson disease, iPD) that could significantly affect balance or gait .
• Capable of following directions.
• iPD subjects: United Kingdom Brain Bank criteria, i.e., bradykinesia and at least one of the following: rest tremor, muscular rigidity, and postural instability not cause by visual, vestibular, cerebellar or proprioceptive dysfunction. Unilateral onset, response to levodopa.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Inability to stand or walk for 2 min without an assistive device
• Recent changes in medication
• Excessive use of alcohol or recreational drugs,
• Contraindications to MRI scans (eg, claustrophobia, metal in body)
• Intervention subjects will be excluded if: 1) participating in a vigorous exercise program more than 2 x/week, 2) A medical condition that contraindicates exercise participation.
• Idiopathic PD subjects: Same as above and deep brain stimulation electrodes. Significant tremor that would interfere with MRI scan.

Control subjects:

• Will be matched for age and gender to iPD group.