TY - JOUR
T1 - Dynamic markers of altered gait rhythm in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
AU - Hausdorff, Jeffrey M.
AU - Lertratanakul, Apinya
AU - Cudkowicz, Merit E.
AU - Peterson, Amie L.
AU - Kaliton, David
AU - Goldberger, Ary L.
PY - 2000
Y1 - 2000
N2 - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disorder marked by loss of moteneurons. We hypothesized that subjects with ALS would have an altered gait rhythm, with an increase in both the magnitude of the stride-to-stride fluctuations and perturbations in the fluctuation dynamics. To test for this locomotor instability, we quantitatively compared the gait rhythm of subjects with ALS with that of normal controls and with that of subjects with Parkinson's disease (PD) and Huntington's disease (HD), pathologies of the basal ganglia. Subjects walked for 5 min at their usual pace wearing an ankle-worn recorder that enabled determination of the duration of each stride and of stride-to-stride fluctuations. We found that the gait of patients with ALS is less steady and more temporally disorganized compared with that of healthy controls. In addition, advanced ALS, HD, and PD were associated with certain common, as well as apparently distinct, features of altered stride dynamics. Thus stride-to-stride control of gait rhythm is apparently compromised with ALS. Moreover, a matrix of markers based on gait dynamics may be useful in characterizing certain pathologies of motor control and, possibly, in quantitatively monitoring disease progression and evaluating therapeutic interventions.
AB - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disorder marked by loss of moteneurons. We hypothesized that subjects with ALS would have an altered gait rhythm, with an increase in both the magnitude of the stride-to-stride fluctuations and perturbations in the fluctuation dynamics. To test for this locomotor instability, we quantitatively compared the gait rhythm of subjects with ALS with that of normal controls and with that of subjects with Parkinson's disease (PD) and Huntington's disease (HD), pathologies of the basal ganglia. Subjects walked for 5 min at their usual pace wearing an ankle-worn recorder that enabled determination of the duration of each stride and of stride-to-stride fluctuations. We found that the gait of patients with ALS is less steady and more temporally disorganized compared with that of healthy controls. In addition, advanced ALS, HD, and PD were associated with certain common, as well as apparently distinct, features of altered stride dynamics. Thus stride-to-stride control of gait rhythm is apparently compromised with ALS. Moreover, a matrix of markers based on gait dynamics may be useful in characterizing certain pathologies of motor control and, possibly, in quantitatively monitoring disease progression and evaluating therapeutic interventions.
KW - Huntington's disease
KW - Motor control
KW - Nervous system diseases
KW - Nonlinear dynamics
KW - Parkinson's disease
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0033938422&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0033938422&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1152/jappl.2000.88.6.2045
DO - 10.1152/jappl.2000.88.6.2045
M3 - Article
C2 - 10846017
AN - SCOPUS:0033938422
SN - 8750-7587
VL - 88
SP - 2045
EP - 2053
JO - Journal of Applied Physiology
JF - Journal of Applied Physiology
IS - 6
ER -