Effect of auditory cues on gait among patients with Parkinson’s disease in South India

Authors

Lekshmi Mohan Ms, Government College of Nursing, Thiruvananthapuram
Asha Sasikumar Ms, Government College of Nursing, ThiruvananthapuramFollow
Thomas Iype, Medical College Thiruvananthapuram
Babu P. K, Medical College Thiruvananthapuram

Abstract

Introduction: In Parkinson’s disease there is defective internal rhythm generation. There is some evidence that it can be overcome with external rhythmic cues. Objective: Evaluate the effect of auditory cues on gait among patients with Parkinson’s disease. Methodology: Experimental – One group pretest post-test design was adopted. The study was conducted on 30 patients with Parkinson’s disease attended the Department of Neurology, Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. Samples were selected consecutively. Researcher collected data from the subjects using a semi structured interview schedule and Dynamic Gait Index Scale. The intervention was practice of gait listening to auditory cues by an electronic instrument metronome in which beats were set 20% faster than subject’s preferred cadence. The effect of intervention was evaluated in the 4th week using Dynamic Gait Index Scale. Results: The study showed that Dynamic gait index mean score improved from 10.07 ± 0.944 to 13.37 ± 1.015 with mean difference 3.2 which is statistically significant ( p< 0.001). Mean score of stride length increased from 57.23 ±10.47 to 60.33 ± 10.152 with mean difference 3.1 which is statistically significant (p< 0.001). Mean score of cadence increased from 69.63 ± 5.991 to 74.4 ± 5.87 and mean difference was 4.767 which was also statistically significant ( p< 0.001). This study shows that auditory cues with metronome beats set 20% faster than subjects preferred cadence would significantly improve gait among patients with Parkinson’s disease. Conclusion: we concluded that auditory cues with metronome beats will significantly improve gait of patients with Parkinson’s disease

Recommended Citation

Mohan, Lekshmi Ms; Sasikumar, Asha Ms; Iype, Thomas; and K, Babu P. (2015) "Effect of auditory cues on gait among patients with Parkinson’s disease in South India," Manipal Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences: Vol. 1: Iss. 2, .
Available at: https://impressions.manipal.edu/mjnhs/vol1/iss2/2