Effect of Different Music Genres on Gait Patterns in Parkinson's Disease

Journal

Neurological Sciences

Year

2020

Abstract

The timing and size of repetitive, internally generated, automatic sequences of movements are particularly affected in Parkinson's disease. The most evident consequence of this deficit is the alteration of gait patterns, with a loss of rhythmicity, shorter steps, slower walking, and trunk instability. Several studies have highlighted a potential benefit of listening to music on the normalization of walking patterns. However, most of these studies investigated the effect of a single specific music. We hypothesized that different musical genres may induce different modifications of spatiotemporal parameters and trunk oscillations during walking. In this study, we enrolled healthy young subjects, healthy elderly, and patients with Parkinson's disease. They were asked to walk listening, by a wireless headset, one of six different music tracks (related to four different musical genres) while wearing an inertial measurement unit at pelvis level used to assess their walking patterns. The main effect of music tracks resulted statistically significant in all the gait parameters (p < 0.05), but for symmetry of lower trunk movements. This effect was independent by group. The only significant interaction between music and group, in fact, was found for pelvis obliquity range of motion (p = 0.019). Post hoc analyses showed as classical music reduced speed and trunk tilting (p < 0.01), whereas the range of pelvic obliquity movements in frontal plane were increased by rock, motivational, and heavy metal songs (p < 0.015). In conclusion, the gait patterns were altered by listening music depending by the musical genre, and these adaptations occurred similarly among the three groups, including patients with Parkinson's disease.

Music and Health Institute Terms

Elderly; Gait; Mobility; Music Listening; Neurodegenerative Disorders; Parkinson's Disease; Receptive Music Methods; Music Medicine

Indexed Terms

Elderly; Aging; Auditory Perception; Biomechanical Phenomena; Dual task; Gait; Gait Disorders, Neurologic; Locomotion; Motor Activity; Parkinson Disease; Psychomotor Performance; Walking

Study Type

Quasi-Experimental Study; Quantitative Methods

Document Type

Article

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