NCT06829342

Stochastic Resonance Stimulation Effect on Gait Stability in Parkinson Disease

The Role of Sensory Deficits in the Neural Control of Balance During Walking in Parkinson's Disease

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 21 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Delaware · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 40 Years – 85 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The present study explored the use of a technique called stochastic resonance (SR) stimulation that may help individuals with Parkinson Disease maintain balance while walking on challenging surfaces. Impaired balance represents one of the disease symptoms, putting people at risk for falls, partly due to impaired processing of sensory information. SR uses light electrical signals to improve the way the body detects sensations. We wanted to test if SR could help people with Parkinson disease stay steadier while walking. Each participant's optimal SR intensity was determined before they walked on a treadmill in a virtual environment that created visual disturbances to challenge their balance. We measured how much their body swayed, how they placed their feet, and how their ankles moved during the walking tasks.

Conditions

• Parkinson Disease

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Stochastic Resonance (SR)	The system consists of six linear isolated stimulators (STMISOLA, Biopac Systems, Inc., Goleta, USA). The SR signal (Gaussian White Noise, zero mean) will be generated through a 16 bit PCI 6733 National Instruments multifunction data acquisition card by a custom LabView program. The stimulation sites include the ankle, lateral soleus, peroneus longus, and tibialis anterior muscles and the hip.

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-05-19
• Primary completion: 2022-12-13
• Completion: 2022-12-13
• First posted: 2025-02-17
• Last updated: 2025-02-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States