The effect of lateral wedge on postural sway in Parkinson’s disease

Yoon, Ji-Yeon; Park, Jinse; Park, Kang Min; Ha, Sam Yeol; Kim, Sung Eun; Shin, Kyong Jin; Kim, Si Eun; Jo, Geunyeol

doi:2018.20.1.31

Ann Clin Neurophysiol > 2018 ;20(1) > Article
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Ann Clin Neurophysiol. 2018; 20(1): 31-35. Published online January 31, 2018. doi: https://doi.org/10.14253/acn.2018.20.1.31

The effect of lateral wedge on postural sway in Parkinson’s disease

Ji-Yeon Yoon¹, Jinse Park², Kang Min Park², Sam Yeol Ha², Sung Eun Kim², Kyong Jin Shin², Si Eun Kim², and Geunyeol Jo³

¹Department of Physical Therapy, Inje University Haeundae Paik Hospital, Busan, Korea
²Department of Neurology, Inje University Haeundae Paik Hospital, Busan, Korea
³Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Inje University Haeundae Paik Hospital, Busan, Korea

Corresponding Author: Jinse Park ,Tel: +82-51-797-2082, Fax: +82-51-797-0640, Email: jinsepark@gmail.com

Received August 24, 2017 Revised: November 20, 2017 Accepted December 7, 2017

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

Background: Although postural instability is one of the major symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), dopaminergic treatment is ineffective for treating postural instability. Recent reports have shown that somatosensory deficit is associated with postural instability, and that somatosensory input improved postural instability. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of lateral wedges for quiet standing postural control in people with PD.
Methods: Twenty-two patients who were diagnosed with PD were enrolled in this study. The participants stood on a force plate under two conditions (wedge and no wedge) with or without having their eyes open or closed. The center of pressure (COP) range and velocity were analyzed using a two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance.
Results: The range and velocity of COP in the anterioposterior and mediolateral (ML) directions were significantly improved after the patients stood on the lateral wedge with their eyes closed (p < 0.05). The range in ML direction and velocity in both directions of COP were significantly decreased when their eyes were open (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: Regardless of vision, standing on lateral wedges improved postural sway in people with PD.

Key words: Parkinson's disease; Rehabilitation; Posture