Gait Speed and Gait Variability are Associated with Different Functional Brain Networks

Are your therapists determining objectively which of these networks is damaged ? So they have the right protocols to use to correct those problems? I had one PT whose knowledge was essentially that my walking wasn't correct and the instruction was to show himself walking and say' Walk this way'. What a fucking useless piece of information. I expect objective diagnosis of walking irregularities probably with motion sensors and accelerometers, then use that objective diagnosis to select stroke protocols that recover every piece. That is my 'pie in the sky' goal. I expect all stroke medical professionals to be working toward that same goal.

Gait Speed and Gait Variability are Associated with Different Functional Brain Networks

On-Yee Lo^{1, 2*}, Mark A. Halko³, Junhong Zhou^{1, 2}, Rachel Harrison¹, Lewis A. Lipsitz^{1, 2} and Brad Manor^{1, 2}

• ¹Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife, United States
• ²Division of Gerontology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, United States
• ³Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, United States

Gait speed and gait variability are clinically-meaningful markers of locomotor control that are suspected to be regulated by multiple supraspinal control mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationships between these gait parameters and the functional connectivity of brain networks in functionally-limited older adults. Twelve older adults with mild-to-moderate cognition “executive” dysfunction and relatively slow gait, yet free from neurological diseases, completed a gait assessment and a resting state fMRI. Gait speed and variability were associated with the strength of functional connectivity of different brain networks. Those with faster gait speed had stronger functional connectivity within the frontoparietal control network (R=0.61, p=0.04). Those with less gait variability (i.e., steadier walking patterns) exhibited stronger negative functional connectivity between the dorsal attention network and the default network (R=0.78, p<0.01). No other significant relationships between gait metrics and the strength of within- or between- network functional connectivity was observed. Results of this pilot study warrant further investigation to confirm that gait speed and variability are linked to different brain networks in vulnerable older adults.

Keywords: Gait, gait speed, Gait Variability, resting state fMRI, functional connectivity, functional brain networks

Received: 10 Jul 2017; Accepted: 13 Nov 2017.

Edited by:

Philip P. Foster, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, United States

Reviewed by:

Graham J. Galloway, Translational Research Institute, Australia
Richard B. Reilly, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland  

Copyright: © 2017 Lo, Halko, Zhou, Harrison, Lipsitz and Manor. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Dr. On-Yee Lo, Hebrew SeniorLife, Institute for Aging Research, Boston, 02131, MA, United States, AmyLo@hsl.harvard.edu