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Neuromuscular Complexity During Gait is not Responsive to Medication in Persons with Parkinson’s Disease

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dopaminergic therapy on neuromuscular complexity during gait and on the relationship between neuromuscular complexity and gait speed in persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Nine persons with PD walked at self-selected speed for 5 min after having withdrawn from dopaminergic medication for at least 12 h and while optimally-medicated. Electromyographic recordings were taken from eight leg muscles bilaterally. Non-negative matrix factorization was applied to reduce the dimensionality of the electromyographic signals into motor modules. We assessed neuromuscular complexity by investigating the number, structure, and timing of the modules. We also investigated the influence of dopaminergic medication on the relationships between neuromuscular complexity and gait speed. Though gait speed increased significantly after medication intake, medication did not affect neuromuscular complexity. Neuromuscular complexity was significantly associated with gait speed only while the participants were medicated. Thus, the supraspinal structures that govern neuromuscular complexity during gait do not appear to be solely dopaminergically-influenced in PD. The lack of dopaminergic influence on neuromuscular complexity may explain why persons with PD exhibit gait slowness even while medicated, and an intervention that restores neuromuscular complexity may result in gait speed improvement in PD.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by NIH grants 1R21AG033284-01A2 and UF National Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence. We would also like to thank Dr. Umer Akbar and Dr. Nawaz Hack for their assistance in scoring the UPDRS videos.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no relevant conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Motion Analysis Laboratory, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Ryan T. Roemmich

  2. Department of Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Ryan T. Roemmich

  3. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Benjamin J. Fregly

  4. Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Chris J. Hass

Authors
  1. Ryan T. Roemmich
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Correspondence to Ryan T. Roemmich.

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Associate Editor Thurmon E. Lockhart oversaw the review of this article.

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Roemmich, R.T., Fregly, B.J. & Hass, C.J. Neuromuscular Complexity During Gait is not Responsive to Medication in Persons with Parkinson’s Disease. Ann Biomed Eng 42, 1901–1912 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-014-1036-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-014-1036-2

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