Sensors, Vol. 19, Pages 5465: Wearable Electronics Assess the Effectiveness of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Balance and Gait in Parkinson ’s Disease Patients

Sensors, Vol. 19, Pages 5465: Wearable Electronics Assess the Effectiveness of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Balance and Gait in Parkinson’s Disease Patients Sensors doi: 10.3390/s19245465 Authors: Mariachiara Ricci Giulia Di Lazzaro Antonio Pisani Simona Scalise Mohammad Alwardat Chiara Salimei Franco Giannini Giovanni Saggio Currently, clinical evaluation represents the primary outcome measure in Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, clinical evaluation may underscore some subtle motor impairments, hidden from the visual inspection of examiners. Technology-based objective measures are more frequently utilized to assess motor performance and objectively measure motor dysfunction. Gait and balance impairments, frequent complications in later disease stages, are poorly responsive to classic dopamine-replacement therapy. Although recent findings suggest that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can have a role in improving motor skills, there is scarce evidence for this, especially considering the difficulty to objectively assess motor function. Therefore, we used wearable electronics to measure motor abilities, and further evaluated the gait and balance features of 10 PD patients, before and (three days and one month) after the tDCS. To assess patients’ abilities, we adopted six motor tasks, obtaining 72 meaningful motor features. According to the obtained results, wearable electronics demonstrated to be a...
Source: Sensors - Category: Biotechnology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research