Improvement on freezing of gait in Parkinson disease patients by light visual cue: digital evaluation methods with portable motion sensors

Objective：To analyze the effect of light visual cue on freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson disease (PD) patients by using wearable device.Methods：Totally 10 PD patients with FOG, including 5 male and 5 female, were enrolled. These patients were (62.3±7.8) years and the Hoehn-Yahr scales were all grade 3. The data of straight walking were recorded and analyzed by wearable device, including step length, step frequency, step velocity, the max freezing index (FImax), and average freezing index (FIavr) with lighting visual cue on or off. Results：The step length, step frequency, FImax, and FIavr were significantly improved when the light visual cue was on (P<0.01). Conclusions：Light visual cue can significantly improve FOG in PD patients, which can be evaluated by the wearable device.