Research Symposium

BIO

I am a behavioral neuroscience major who loves the brain and all things medicine. I plan on pursuing a masters in anesthesia program for the Fall 2026 cycle.

Auditory and Visual Cueing for Gait Improvement in Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with gait disturbances. Providing medications is common for treating symptoms such as gait disturbances in PD but increasing dosages are required over time. Cueing interventions such as visual, auditory and audiovisual suggests a non-pharmacological treatment for gait disturbances. This meta-analysis the effect of cueing mechanisms on three gait parameters: Cadence, stride length and velocity. A systematic literature was conducted throughout five databases that identified studies examining curing interventions for gait disturbances in Parkinson’s. Studies included measured the three gait parameters. A random-effects model was used with Hedges computing to standardized mean differences and also apply variance estimation. A total of 772 PD patients were analyzed. The results demonstrated curing had no effect on cadence but small positive effect sizes on velocity and stride length. This suggests cueing mechanism do provide a small but nevertheless significant improvement on gait. Cadence remaining unaffected may be due to patient prioritization of step rhythm adjusting in response to external cues These findings though limited demonstrate the potential cueing gait has on improving mobility in patients with PD. Future studies should distinguish auditory and visual cueing, examine curing durations and asses PD severity’s role on gait outcomes.

Keywords: Cueing, Parkinson’s, Visual, Auditory