8
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      Improving gait and balance in patients with leukoaraiosis using transcranial direct current stimulation and physical training: an exploratory study.

      Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair
      Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Combined Modality Therapy, Cross-Over Studies, Double-Blind Method, Electric Stimulation Therapy, Exercise Therapy, Female, Gait, physiology, Humans, Leukoencephalopathies, rehabilitation, Male, Motor Cortex, Postural Balance, Recovery of Function

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPubMed
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Leukoaraiosis describes ischemic white matter lesions, a leading cause of gait disturbance in the elderly. Our aim was to improve gait and balance in patients with leukoaraiosis by combining a single session of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and physical training (PT). We delivered anodal tDCS over midline motor and premotor areas in 9 patients with leukoaraiosis. Patients underwent gait and balance training during tDCS stimulation (real/sham). This was repeated 1 week later with the stimulation crossed-over (sham/real) in a double-blind design. Assessments included gait velocity, stride length, stride length variability (primary gait outcomes), and a quantitative retropulsion test (primary balance outcome). . Combining tDCS and PT improved gait velocity, stride length, stride length variability, and balance (all at P ≤ .05). Overall, training without tDCS showed no significant effects. Combined anodal tDCS and PT improves gait and balance in this patient group, suggesting that tDCS could be an effective adjunct to PT in patients with leukoaraiosis, for whom no treatment is currently available.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Comments

          Comment on this article