Compensation Strategies for Gait Impairments in Parkinson's Disease: From Underlying Mechanisms to Daily Clinical Practice

Abstract

Gait impairments are among the most disabling motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). These disturbances can be divided into two major groups, namely: continuously present gait disturbances; and episodically present gait disturbances. Continuous gait disturbances include a reduced step length and height, reduced gait speed, increased gait variability, stooped posture and asymmetrically reduced arm swing.1 Episodic gait disturbances include festination,2 and freezing of gait, the latter being operationally defined as a brief, episodic absence or marked reduction of forward progression of the feet despite the intention to walk.3 As the disease progresses, gait impairment generally becomes increasingly more severe, markedly affecting a person's mobility, independence and quality of life, and causing falls and related injuries.4-6 While dopaminergic therapy may have some beneficial effects on gait speed and step length, pharmacological treatment alone rarely suffices to adequately ameliorate gait quality—a problem that worsens further with disease progression, presumably because non-dopaminergic lesions start to increasingly dominate the underlying pathophysiology.7, 8 Therefore, complementary non-pharmacological interventions form an essential part of the management of gait impairment in PD. The contents of these non-pharmacological interventions should be tailored to the individual patient, including the person's disease severity and -duration, and the specific type of gait disturbance(s).9, 10 In this review, we focus on one specific element within the broad spectrum of non-pharmacological interventions for gait impairment in PD: the application of compensation strategies. The term compensation strategies refers to a wide variety of “detours” that are typically spontaneously invented by persons with PD to improve their gait. Examples of such strategies include: walking while rhythmically counting, while bouncing a ball, or while mimicking the gait pattern of another person.11 Such strategies were initially reported mainly in the form of anecdotal case reports,12-15 but the body of literature on compensation strategies for gait impairment in PD has grown substantially in recent years, including more robust, systematic investigations into their efficacy and potential underlying mechanisms. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge on compensation strategies for gait impairment in PD. We cover reports on the objectively measured (lab-based) efficacy, as well as the subjective (patient-rated) efficacy of compensation strategies in improving gait in PD, and discuss the suspected mechanisms underlying the various forms of compensation. Moreover, we will provide concrete recommendations for clinical practice based on the presented evidence, and share suggestions for future investigations on this fascinating topic. In this review we will refer to seven distinct categories of compensation strategies. This categorization is based on the first-ever large-scale review of the available compensation strategies for gait impairment in PD, which was published in 2019.11 Over a period of 4 years, the authors of this review collected several hundred videos of patients who used self-invented tricks and aids to improve their mobility in daily life. Analysis and subsequent classification of this footage yielded 59 unique compensation strategies, that all appeared to fit into one of several basic compensatory concepts. The authors proposed a classification of these strategies, based on their suspected underlying working mechanisms. The seven categories entailed: (1) external cueing; (2) internal cueing; (3) motor imagery and action observation; (4) altering the mental state; (5) changing the balance requirements; (6) adopting a new walking pattern; and (7) alternatives to walking. Table 1 presents an overview of this classification of compensation strategies for gait impairments in PD, including practical examples of strategies, and the prevailing hypotheses regarding their principal underlying mechanisms. Walking to the rhythm of music; Stepping over lines on the floor; Bouncing a ball Mental singing or counting; Focusing on a specific component of the gait cycle (e.g. making a heel strike) Using walking aids; Making a volitional weight shift before gait initiation; Making wider turns. Reducing anxiety (e.g. mindfulness); Increasing motivation (e.g. encouraging oneself); Kinesia paradoxa Skipping; Walking backwards or sideways; Running; Making skating movements. Riding a bicycle; Skateboarding; Riding a scooter; Roller skating Over the last decades, several large trials have investigated the efficacy of compensation strategies for gait impairments in PD, with a clear emphasis on external cueing strategies (i.e. visual, auditory or tactile cues). The remaining categories of strategies remain to be explored further, because they are still relatively unknown (e.g. motor imagery), or because they are rather difficult to control in a lab-based setting (e.g. altering the mental state). Furthermore, especially in earlier studies on the efficacy of cueing strategies, the focus was primarily on alleviating freezing of gait (the main example of an episodic gait disturbance). However, compensation strategies are equally useful in ameliorating continuous gait disturbances (e.g. correcting the reduction in step length, or reducing gait variability).16 A complete overview of the available evidence on the efficacy of all available compensation strategies is beyond the scope of this review. Instead, we will focus on a selection of trials that have markedly influenced the field. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 50 studies (n = 1892 subjects) on the efficacy of (external) auditory cueing concluded that auditory cueing improves gait quality in persons with PD.17 This analysis revealed that 88% of the included studies reported beneficial effects of auditory cueing on spatiotemporal gait parameters, including stride length, and gait speed. Another meta-analysis of 28 studies (n = 718 subjects) on the efficacy of (external) auditory versus visual cues also demonstrated that both modalities increased stride length, and improved gait speed in persons with PD.18 External cues can also improve gait initiation in persons with PD, through enhanced anticipatory postural adjustment.19, 20 Notably, the efficacy of cueing strategies has predominantly been investigated in single-session experiments in lab-based settings. However, in the RESCUE trial,21 a single-blind, randomized clinical trial including 153 persons with PD, participants received a 3-week home-based cueing program using a multimodal (external) cueing device. The RESCUE trial demonstrated modest, but significant improvements in gait with cues, including increased gait speed and step length, as well as a reduction in freezing of gait severity among freezers. Cueing generally showed an immediate correction of gait, with limited carry-over or training effects to uncued gait performance post-intervention.21, 22 This underlines the notion that compensation strategies should likely be applied on-demand throughout the day, and that intermittent training alone is not sufficient. Limited studies have been performed to investigate the efficacy of the remaining categories of compensation strategies for gait impairment in PD. Several studies have established the efficacy of internal cueing, for example in the form of mental singing while walking, to reduce gait variability in PD.23-25 Voluntary lateral weight shifting (part of the category ‘changing the balance requirements’) was demonstrated to support a more effective gait initiation,26 as well as more effective turning in persons with PD who manifested freezing of gait.27 For action observation, a randomized clinical trial revealed a significant reduction in bradykinesia during a finger tapping task,28 but the effects on gait in PD should be explored further. Motor imagery was previously found to be a successful strategy in normalizing stride length in persons with PD.29 Exaggerating the arm swing during gait (part of the category “adopting a new walking pattern”) has been demonstrated to improve gait initiation,30 as well as increase gait speed and step length.31 Finally, the efficacy of “altering the mental state” strategies is—thus far—predominantly based on anecdotal reports of kinesia paradoxa: “The sudden, transient ability of a person with PD to perform a task they were previously unable to perform“.32 A classic example includes the account of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake, during which severely affected persons with PD were able to independently escape from the collapsing buildings, helping relatives on their way out.33 It remains to be established how persons with PD could make optimal use of this phenomenon in non-threatening, daily-life situations. Besides clinical trials aiming to quantify the objective effects of compensation strategies on gait quality in persons with PD, recent studies have also focused on the subjective perceptions of these strategies among both persons with PD and their healthcare providers. We will next discuss these studies in further detail. In 2021, a large survey study on the perceptions and use of compensation strategies among 3243 persons with PD and gait impairments within the Michael J. Fox Foundation Fox Insight (USA) and ParkinsonNEXT (NL) cohorts was published.16 Each of the seven categories of compensation strategies was explained, and participants were asked if they were aware of these strategies, if they had ever used such strategies, and if so, what the efficacy of these strategies was in a variety of contexts (e.g. gait initiation, turning, stopping, crossing a doorway, walking outdoors). The study revealed that the patients’ overall knowledge of the broad spectrum of available strategies is rather limited. While the self-reported severity of gait impairment among participants was relatively high (i.e. 35% claimed that this affected their ability to perform usual daily activities, and 52% had fallen at least once in the past year), one in five patients had never heard of any form of compensation strategies before. Only 4% of participants were aware of all seven categories of compensation strategies. In line with a related awareness study among PD healthcare professionals,34 the best-known strategies among persons with PD were external and internal cueing, which were known to just under half of the participants. The least known category was action observation and motor imagery. Approximately 65% of respondents used one or more compensation strategies in daily life at the time of the survey. Compensation strategies were most often used when walking outdoors, or in time–pressure situations, and were least often applied when attempting to stop walking or cross a doorway. Changing the balance requirements (e.g. making a volitional weight shift to initiate gait) was the most widely used category, followed by internal cueing. Notably, while external cueing was the best-known category among persons with PD, it was applied least often in daily life by persons with PD. External cueing may be less accessible or feasible than other types of strategies, as it typically requires adaptations to the environment (e.g. 2- or 3D patterns on the floor), or specific devices (e.g. laser shoes, a metronome). External cues may also be less preferred because of their visibility to bystanders, thereby causing stigmatization or feelings of embarrassment.35, 36 Overall, the patient-reported efficacy of all categories of compensation strategies was high. Changing the balance requirements was most often reported to have a beneficial effect on gait (76% of patients that had ever tried it found it had a positive effect), whereas external cueing showed the relatively lowest success rate (62%). A survey study on the perceptions of compensation strategies for gait impairment in PD was conducted among 320 PD healthcare professionals in the Netherlands.34 PD healthcare professionals (i.e. physical therapists, occupational therapists, specialized PD nurses, general nurses, and movement disorders specialists) who saw at least one person with PD per month in their clinical practice received a summary of each of the seven categories of compensation strategies, illustrated by practical examples. They were then queried about their previous awareness of these strategies, and whether they had ever applied them in their clinical practice when working with persons with PD and gait impairments. Only 35% of the professionals were aware of the existence of all seven categories of compensation strategies, and 23% applied strategies from all categories in practice. Of all available strategies, external and internal cueing paradigms were most often applied (by 94%, and 93% of respondents, respectively). Action observation and motor imagery was the least known category among professionals, and was applied in clinical practice by less than half of the respondents. Importantly, most professionals indicated that a lack of specific knowledge and skills concerning certain categories of compensation strategies was the main reason why they did not include strategies from all seven categories in their daily practice. Considering the study design—which included a high risk of selection bias—and the fact that it was conducted in the Netherlands, which has organized PD care in a high-standard national network of specifically trained (allied) healthcare professionals (ParkinsonNet37), the actual knowledge of compensation strategies for gait impairment in PD among healthcare professionals across the globe may even be considerably more limited. The efficacy of compensation strategies for gait impairments in PD has now been established, but their exact underlying mechanisms remain relatively unclear. The study of the mechanisms underlying compensation strategies is a rapidly emerging field. Dynamic neuroimaging techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG), and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) now allow us to study the cortical mechanisms of compensation strategies during actual gait, rather than imagined gait (to avoid movement artifacts) while the participant is lying in a scanner. Improving our understanding of the key mechanisms underlying compensation at the neurological systems level will eventually facilitate the development of innovative rehabilitation interventions to improve gait in persons with PD. Here, we will discuss the prevailing hypotheses in the field regarding the primary working mechanisms of compensation strategies for gait impairment in PD, as well as some very recent, preliminary insights from studies using dynamic neuroimaging techniques. The pathophysiology underlying gait impairments in PD is complex and presumably involves dysfunction of multiple cortical and subcortical components within the locomotor network. Gait partly depends on a basic “locomotor network”, involving spinal central pattern generators, brainstem mesencephalic and cerebellar locomotor regions, and corticostriatal input projecting to the primary motor cortex.38 In addition, distributed cortical areas, particularly the frontoparietal and supplementary motor areas, are involved in adjustment and adaptation of gait. During walking in an automated manner, persons with PD have difficulties recruiting cortical motor areas.39 Indeed, persons with PD generally experience more difficulties when walking in an automated manner (i.e. without consciously paying attention to it), compared to when producing goal-directed behavior (often facilitated by the presence of a clear external stimulus or “cue”).40 These differences between automatic and goal-directed behavior in PD are likely related to a greater loss of dopaminergic innervation in the posterior putamen, which has been associated with the control of automatic (habitual) behavior, in contrast to the relatively preserved rostromedial striatum, which is primarily involved in goal-directed behavior.41, 42 Consequently, persons with PD may increasingly have to rely on making a compensatory shift from the automated to the goal-directed mode of action control to maintain functional mobility. The application of compensation strategies is believed to facilitate this shift from automated to goal-directed gait control.11 Recently, the cortical correlates of external auditory cueing, internal cueing and action observation were investigated in 18 persons with PD that had previously shown a beneficial response to these three strategies in a controlled lab-setting.43 High-density EEG was recorded both during stance and gait on a treadmill under four conditions: (1) without strategies; (2) with external cueing (listening to a metronome); (3) with internal cueing (silent rhythmic counting); and (4) with action observation (observing another person walking). The application of compensation strategies resulted in changed cortical activity compared to baseline gait, which could not be solely attributed to stimulus-related sensory processing (e.g. auditory processing of the metronome sound, or visual processing during action observation). Relative to baseline gait, the use of all three compensation strategies induced increased cortical activation of the sensorimotor areas. Furthermore, cortical activation patterns differed depending on the type of compensation strategy that was applied, suggesting that each of the strategies engages a distinct cortical network to achieve enhanced central motor activation in persons with PD, and that there are multiple to control These support the prevailing that central motor activation could be through cues by making use of to control in contrast to recent that and not to a major in the mechanisms underlying external cueing. EEG study in 20 and persons with PD found that gait with external visual cues did not an study in persons with PD showed that the use of external cues did not increase activation of the compared to uncued than increased external cues primarily and to goal-directed motor control by a movement or to be in internal cueing, as demonstrated by increased activation during the application of rhythmic mental during gait could not be attributed to activation by the of a rhythmic mental task Indeed, internal cues have been to in and and focused attention on specific of The fact that types of compensation strategies to rely on distinct cortical could the in the efficacy of compensation While a specific strategy may well for one it could have or may even gait impairments in another depending on the specific of the in the for each affected A to the use of compensation strategies for PD gait rehabilitation not it has not been to which strategies an individual based on specific (e.g. disease or presence of freezing of However, in a recent study on compensation strategies in a of persons with PD and gait certain were associated with improvements in gait variability using compensation strategies without freezing of gait, with and greater balance showed the that a certain level of functional to from the use of compensation strategies for gait impairment in PD. Besides differences in the efficacy of specific strategies, the efficacy of a strategy typically also depends on the or in which it is For of persons with PD the use of internal cues to be during gait initiation, but found it when attempting to stop These further the for an to the use of compensation strategies. In Table we provide four practical for compensation strategies in clinical based on our clinical Compensation strategies are increasingly as an essential element of gait rehabilitation in PD, systematic to investigate their practical in daily clinical practice. 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However, in to a more complete future studies should to the of For by using a EEG high functional (to and EEG (to cortical and using current (to Furthermore, the of who from a certain to who may also provide insights into the underlying mechanisms of gait compensation strategies in PD. We that this overview may as a for a new of regarding the potential of compensation strategies to improve gait in persons with PD. awareness about the spectrum of available strategies among with PD and healthcare professionals, and more into the of differences in response to these strategies, as well as their exact underlying will the way a more to PD gait (1) (2) of the and We that we have the on involved in and that this is with The authors that of an review and were not for this and of was by a The of for was by a of by the The authors that there are of to this for the reports was by a reports a from Michael J. Fox and Foundation to the present at the of and as for the of Parkinson's on the of and has received from on the for the and has received for at from and and has received support from the for the Michael J. Fox the Parkinson's the and and all to the present

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