What is it about?
Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases affecting 1.8% of the elderly population (those over 65 years old).
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Why is it important?
The degenerative changes create an excessive inhibition pattern that generate the following cardinal symptoms in subjects with PD: resting tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity and loss of postural reflexes [4]. These symptoms contribute to severe postural instability and a high rate of falls observed in this population [5, 6]. Falls caused by postural disturbances are minimized or prevented by efficiently using the strategies of postural adjustment, which are essential for body equilibrium in response to perturbations of posture.
Perspectives
The results of this study suggest that postural instability in subjects with PD can be partially explained by decreased postural sway, before and after perturbations, and reduced muscular activity after body disturbances. Our findings can motivate new studies to investigate therapeutic interventions that optimize the use of postural adjustment strategies in subjects with PD.
Renato Claudino
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Anticipatory and Compensatory Postural Adjustments in Response to External Lateral Shoulder Perturbations in Subjects with Parkinson’s Disease, PLOS One, May 2016, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155012.
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