Spatial orientation and postural control in patients with Parkinson’s disease

• Published in: Gait & posture 2018-02, Vol.60, p.50-54
• Main Authors: Pawlitzki, E., Schlenstedt, C., Schmidt, N., Rotkirch, I., Gövert, F., Hartwigsen, G., Witt, K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Horizontal orientation; Parkinson's disease; Postural control; Sagittal orientation; Subjective vertical orientation
• ISSN: 0966-6362; 1879-2219
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2017.11.011

•We studied the impact of spatial orientation on postural stability in Parkinson’s disease (PD).•Spatial perception was investigated separately on each room axis.•PD patients show larger deviations concerning vertical perception, but no significant differences from controls.•Spatial perception measures do not correlate with balance control in PD.•Nevertheless balance control is highly significant impaired in PD. Postural instability is one of the most disabling and risky symptoms of advanced Parkinson's disease (PD). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether and how this is mediated by a centrally impaired spatial orientation. Therefore, we performed a spatial orientation study in 21 PD patients (mean age 68years, SD 8.5 years, 9 women) in a medically on condition and 21 healthy controls (mean age 68.9years, SD 5.5years, 14 women). We compared their spatial responses to the horizontal axis (Sakashita's visual target cancellation task), the vertical axis (bucket-test), the sagittal axis (tilt table test) and postural stability using the Fullerton Advanced Balance Scale (FAB). We found larger deviations on the vertical axis in PD patients, although the direct comparisons of performance in PD patients and healthy controls did not reveal significant differences. While the total scores of the FAB Scale were significantly worse in PD (25.9 points, SD 7.2 points) compared to controls (35.1 points, SD 2.3 points, p