"The whole perimeter is difficult": Parkinson's disease and the conscious experience of walking in everyday environments.

CONCLUSION: Perceptual challenges, visual flow and the dynamic valence of features in the patient's surroundings may have important effects upon the gait stability of patients with Parkinson's disease and warrant further attention in planning rehabilitation interventions. Implications for rehabilitation Walking abilities of patients with Parkinson's disease should be conceptualized in terms of perceptuomotor coupling to a given environment. The functional significance of a patient's environment is dynamic and might be seen to vary in accordance with their physical capacities. Valency, or the subjective relationship between a patient and their surrounds, appears to be an important component of the "fit" between a person and their environment. Novel rehabilitation strategies for the management of parkinsonian gait disturbances might seek to integrate psychological, sensorimotor and environmental elements in order to have individually tailored, ecologically valid home assessment and community rehabilitation programs. PMID: 29916272 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Disability and Rehabilitation - Category: Rehabilitation Authors: Tags: Disabil Rehabil Source Type: research