Description

Treadmill gait training has been stablished as a solid gait rehabilitation option for people with Parkinson's Disease. However, gait training by itself fails to address the cognitive aspect needed for safe walking, which could be affected by situations in which concurrent tasks must be managed simultaneously to gait. It also lacks motivational aspects key to keep people with Parkinson's Disease adhered to treatment. Virtual reality and gamification are posed as useful tools to address both these issues, turning training into a more engaging activity and allowing complicated gait situations to be trained in a safe environment. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) could be combined with these mentioned treatment options, which could reinforce the learning of motor and cognitive skills during training.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of the inclusion of a gamified virtual reality environment to a treadmill gait training program with tDCS in PD compared to the same training protocol with virtual reality and without it