Objective: To investigate the turning characteristics of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) with freezing of gait (FoG) according to the turning direction.

Background: For people with PD, FOG cause difficulties during turning. However, few studies have analyzed turning characteristics considering the direction and asymmetricity of motor symptoms.

Method: Fifty-seven PD patients participated in this study (27 freezers, 30 non-freezers). All experiments were performed in the “Off” medication state. The 180° turning task was performed at maximum speed for the directions of the inner step of the more affected limb (IMA) and the outer step of the more affected limb (OMA) using a full-body kinematic analysis. The New Freezing of Gait Questionnaire (NFOGQ) was used to determine the presence and severity of FOG.

Results: In the stepwise binary logistic regression, several variables such as total steps, outer double support phase, and outer ankle range of motion in the IMA direction were identified to distinguish freezers and non-freezers (R_N² = 0.376). In addition, higher NFOGQ scores were associated with a more significant anteroposterior root mean square distance of the center of mass in the IMA direction and a greater inner stance phase in the OMA direction; explanatory power was 50.1% (adjusted R² = 0.501).

Conclusion: Assessing maximum speed and turning direction was useful for evaluating turning characteristic differences of freezers and non-freezers, which will help define freezers more accurately.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/association-between-severity-of-freezing-of-gait-and-turning-characteristics-in-parkinsons-disease/