ArticleBMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation2025
In Parkinson's disease, dual-tasking reduces gait smoothness during the straight-walking and turning-while-walking phases of the Timed Up and Go test.
Article in BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Cognitive, Affective, and Motor Effects of Tangotherapy in Parkinson's Disease
Multimodal Artificial Intelligence-Based Fall Risk Prediction in Patients With Parkinson's Disease: Single vs. Dual-Task Conditions
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Quantitative Analysis of Timed Up and Go Metrics Across Parkinson's Disease Severity and Their Clinical Correlations.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Unveiling the Clinical Impact of Lower Limb Robotic Devices in Neurorehabilitation: An Umbrella Review.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2026Review
- Motor-Derived Digital Biomarkers for Identifying Low-MoCA Status in People with Parkinson's Disease.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Obstacle Circumvention and Motor Daily Dual Task During a Simulation of Street Crossing by Individuals with Parkinson's Disease.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDual-task walking is used as a treatment, for gait assessment, and as an outcome measure in Parkinson's disease (PD). Movement smoothness, i.e. its non-intermittency, is a movement cardinal feature. This study assesses whether dual-tasking reduces gait smoothness in PD alongside reducing speed, one of its well-known effects.
methodsThe Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, instrumented with an inertial sensor fixed to the back, was administered to 33 PD patients (15 females; age: median = 71 years; IQR = 10) to assess two walking types: straight-walking and turning-while-walking. The TUG test was completed in single-task and two dual-task modalities: cognitive (doing successive subtractions) and motor (holding a water glass). The angular speed spectral arc length metric (SPARC) and the Ln-DimensionLess Jerk (LDLJ), two smoothness measures quantifying the peaks and dips in the speed profile, were measured, along with the trunk angular velocity and the foot strikes number. ANOVA was used for hypothesis testing and estimated marginal means for post-hoc tests and effect sizes (ES).
resultsIn straight-walking and turning, cognitive and motor dual tasks decreased gait speed (ES range = [0.476, 1.379]; p < 0.01) and increased the step number (ES = [0.402, 0.927]; p < 0.05). SPARC (ES = [0.221, 0.493]; p < 0.05) and angular LDLJ (ES = [0.451, 0.929]; p < 0.01) were lower in the two dual-task conditions in both phases, indicating reduced gait smoothness than in single-task. This worsening of gait smoothness was partially confirmed after ruling out the dual-task effect on speed and step number. In particular, anterior-posterior SPARC during turning was still low in cognitive (ES = 0.351; p < 0.01) and motor (ES = 0.283; p < 0.05) dual tasks.
conclusionsIn PD, dual-tasking decreases gait speed and increases the step number when walking straight and turning while walking. Independently of these effects, dual-tasking also reduces gait smoothness. As an independent feature of movement, when dual-task walking is the outcome measure, improving smoothness may represent a novel treatment aim in PD. As long as it is instrumented with an inertial sensor, the TUG test is valuable for studying different walking types.
trial registrationNCT05904171 (ClinicalTrials.gov; date registration: 2023-06-06).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.