Abstract
BackgroundVestibular patients show slower and unsteady gait; they have also been shown to need greater cognitive resources when carrying out balance and cognitive dual tasks (DT). This study investigated DT interference during gait in a middle-aged group of subjects with dizziness and unsteadiness after unilateral vestibular neuronitis and in a healthy control group.MethodsFourteen individuals with subacute unilateral vestibular impairment after neuronitis and seventeen healthy subjects performed gait and cognitive tasks in single and DT conditions. A statistical gait analysis system was used and spatio-temporal parameters were considered. The cognitive task, consisting of backward counting by three, was tape recorded and the number of right figures was then calculated.ResultsBoth patients and controls showed a more conservative gait during DT and between groups significant differences were not found. A significant decrease in cognitive performance during DT was found only in the vestibular group.ConclusionsResults suggest that less attentional resources are available during gait in vestibular patients compared to controls, and that a priority is given in keeping up the motor task to the detriment of a decrease of the cognitive performance during DT.
Highlights
Vestibular patients show slower and unsteady gait; they have been shown to need greater cognitive resources when carrying out balance and cognitive dual tasks (DT)
These studies are based on the assumption that cognitive resources are limited and can be undermined by the execution of concurrent tasks, especially when pathologies limit the performance by a reduction of attentional resources available or by the need of increased attention to carry out usual tasks owing to motor-sensory impairments
Participants Patients and control subjects were included if their age was between 18 and 65 years and without other pathologies interfering with gait, balance and cognition. 14 patients with unilateral vestibular impairment after vestibular neuritis and 17 healthy control subjects were evaluated
Summary
Vestibular patients show slower and unsteady gait; they have been shown to need greater cognitive resources when carrying out balance and cognitive dual tasks (DT). Cognitive and motor interference during gait has been studied in pathologies such as stroke [16], Parkinson disease [17] and dementia [18]. These studies are based on the assumption that cognitive resources are limited and can be undermined by the execution of concurrent tasks, especially when pathologies limit the performance by a reduction of attentional resources available or by the need of increased attention to carry out usual tasks owing to motor-sensory impairments. The degree of impairment of motor-sensory integration during DT will depend on the amount of attentional resources required by the proposed tasks [14,19]
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