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The Effect of Split-belt Treadmill Training on Gait in Parkinson's Disease

NCT04176263 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 52

Last updated 2021-08-10

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

People with Parkinson's disease (PD) often show gait impairments such as, shuffling gait, short steps and gait asymmetry and irregularity. These gait problems are already apparent in the early disease stages, having an immense effect on daily life functioning. Especially Freezing of Gait (FOG), where the patients are not able to initiate or continue their movement despite their intention to do so, is a debilitating problem. It is thought that lack of gait adaptability could be an underlying cause of FOG. With a split-belt treadmill the speed of both legs can be controlled independently, which forces participants to actively adapt their gait to the new situation. In a previous study performed at our lab, it was shown that only one session of split-belt training (SBT), in which the speed of one leg was reduced, improved gait adaptability and other gait features compared to tied-belt training (TBT). Furthermore, overground turning speed improved after only one single training session and this was even retained 24 hours later, indicating training induced long-term potentiation. Since the short-term effects of SBT are promising, the objective of this study is to investigate if 4 weeks of SBT, 3 times a week, has an effect on gait deficits found in individuals with PD, compared to 4-weeks, 3 times a week, of TBT.

Conditions

  • Parkinson Disease
  • Freezing of Gait

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

SBT

The SBT group will receive a 4-week split-belt treadmill training, 3 times a week using a standardized progression protocol. The sessions, including breaks, will approximately take 1 hour each. The training will be given by a trainer experienced with PD.

BEHAVIORAL

TBT

The TBT group will receive a 4-week tied-belt treadmill training, 3 times a week. To make sure exposure of the two interventions is similar the sessions of the TBT group will be of similar length and progression level (approximately 1 hour each). The training will be given by a trainer experienced with PD.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Kiel

    collaborator OTHER

  • KU Leuven

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Alice Nieuwboer, PhD · KU Leuven

  • Christian Schlenstedt, PhD · Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2019-08-12
Primary Completion
2021-05-11
Completion
2021-05-11

Countries

  • Belgium
  • Germany

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT04176263 on ClinicalTrials.gov