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Linear and angular control of circular walking in healthy older adults and subjects with cerebellar ataxia

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Abstract

Linear and angular control of trunk and leg motion during curvilinear navigation was investigated in subjects with cerebellar ataxia and age-matched control subjects. Subjects walked with eyes open around a 1.2-m circle. The relationship of linear to angular motion was quantified by determining the ratios of trunk linear velocity to trunk angular velocity and foot linear position to foot angular position. Errors in walking radius (the ratio of linear to angular motion) also were quantified continuously during the circular walk. Relative variability of linear and angular measures was compared using coefficients of variation (CoV). Patterns of variability were compared using power spectral analysis for the trunk and auto-covariance analysis for the feet. Errors in radius were significantly increased in patients with cerebellar damage as compared to controls. Cerebellar subjects had significantly larger CoV of feet and trunk in angular, but not linear, motion. Control subjects also showed larger CoV in angular compared to linear motion of the feet and trunk. Angular and linear components of stepping differed in that angular, but not linear, foot placement had a negative correlation from one stride to the next. Thus, walking in a circle was associated with more, and a different type of, variability in angular compared to linear motion. Results are consistent with increased difficulty of, and role of the cerebellum in, control of angular trunk and foot motion for curvilinear locomotion.

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Abbreviations

ΔLFOOT :

Step length

ΔθFOOT :

Change in foot angle between steps

R FOOT :

Foot radius = ΔLFOOT/(2 sin(ΔθFOOT/2))

VTRUNK :

Trunk linear velocity

ΩTRUNK :

Trunk angular velocity

RTRUNK :

Trunk radius = VTRUNK/ΩTRUNK

CoV:

Coefficient of variation

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Triana Nagel for her help with subject recruitment and data collection and reduction. We thank Erika Franzen for helpful discussion regarding this study. Work supported by NIH grant DC004082, R37-Ag006457 and CIHR RMF—79025.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Therapy, Center for Health, Care, and Well-being, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford, CT, 06117, USA

    Adam D. Goodworth

  2. Department of Neurology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA

    Adam D. Goodworth, Caroline Paquette & Fay B. Horak

  3. Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Geoffrey Melvill Jones, Edward W. Block, William A. Fletcher & Bin Hu

  4. Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University at SMBD-Jewish General Hospital and Lady Davis Institute, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Caroline Paquette

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  1. Adam D. Goodworth
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  2. Caroline Paquette
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  3. Geoffrey Melvill Jones
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  4. Edward W. Block
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  5. William A. Fletcher
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  6. Bin Hu
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  7. Fay B. Horak
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Correspondence to Adam D. Goodworth.

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Goodworth, A.D., Paquette, C., Jones, G.M. et al. Linear and angular control of circular walking in healthy older adults and subjects with cerebellar ataxia. Exp Brain Res 219, 151–161 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3074-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3074-z

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