Effects of Nordic Walking on Gait Symmetry in Mild Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have gait asymmetries, and exercise therapy may reduce the differences between more and less affected limbs. The Nordic walking (NW) training may contribute to reducing the asymmetry in upper and lower limb movements in people with PD. We compared the effects of 11 weeks of NW aerobic training on asymmetrical variables of gait in subjects with mild PD. Fourteen subjects with idiopathic PD, age: 66.8 ± 9.6 years, and Hoehn and Yard stage of 1.5 points were enrolled. The kinematic analysis was performed pre and post-intervention. Data were collected at two randomized walking speeds (0.28 m·s−1 and 0.83 m·s−1) during five minutes on the treadmill without poles. The more affected and less affected body side symmetries (threshold at 5% between sides) of angular kinematics and spatiotemporal gait parameters were calculated. We used Generalized Estimating Equations with Bonferroni post hoc (α = 0.05). Maximal flexion of the knee (p = 0.007) and maximal abduction of the hip (p = 0.041) were asymmetrical pre and became symmetrical post NW intervention. The differences occurred in the knee was less affected and the hip was more affected. We concluded that 11 weeks of NW training promoted similarities in gait parameters and improved knee and hip angular parameters for PD subjects.