Visual perturbation training to reduce visual dependency in Parkinson’s disease: A randomized controlled trial

Introduction Decreased gait automaticity and increased visual dependency are important contributors to falls in people with Parkinson’s disease. The aim of this study was to assess if visual perturbation training during treadmill walking decreases visual dependency in people with Parkinson’s disease. Materials and methods For this randomized controlled trial 25 early-to-mid-stage people with Parkinson’s disease (age 50-67y) without regular freezing of gait were randomly assigned to a visual perturbation group or treadmill training-only control group. Both groups trained 2 times per week for 6 weeks. Visual perturbation training consisted of self-paced treadmill walking with perturbations applied as rotations around the sagittal axis and medio-lateral translations of the virtual reality environment. The primary outcome was visual dependency. Secondary outcomes included steady-state spatiotemporal gait parameters (gait speed, step time/length/width/frequency, and cadence), as well as self-reported (near) falls. Results Group x time interaction effects revealed that visual perturbation training significantly decreased visual dependency (p<0.001) and improved temporal gait characteristics such as step time (p=0.012), stride time (p=0.021) and cadence (p=0.018) compared to treadmill-only controls. However, no significant effects were found for step width, step length, gait speed, and (near) falls. Improvements in visual dependency were negatively correlated to disease progression (p=0.004). Discussion: Visual perturbation training decreases visual dependency and improves temporal gait parameters in people with Parkinson’s disease. Participants in earlier disease stages appear to benefit most from visual perturbation training but additional research is needed. Clinical trial registration This study was pre-registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05690308) on 09/01/2023.