The Role of the Frontal Lobe in Complex Walking Among Patients With Parkinsons Disease and Healthy Older Adults: An fNIRS Study

Conclusions. A different pattern of frontal activation during walking was observed between groups. The higher activation during usual walking in patients with PD suggests that the prefrontal cortex plays an important role already during simple walking. However, higher activation relative to baseline during obstacle negotiation and not during DT in the patients with PD demonstrates that prefrontal activation depends on the nature of the task. These findings may have important implications for rehabilitation of gait in patients with PD.

Source: Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair - September 29, 2016 Category: Neurology Authors: Maidan, I., Nieuwhof, F., Bernad-Elazari, H., Reelick, M. F., Bloem, B. R., Giladi, N., Deutsch, J. E., Hausdorff, J. M., Claassen, J. A. H., Mirelman, A. Tags: Featured articles Clinical Research Articles Source Type: research