Gait Dynamics in Parkinson’s Disease: Short Gait Trials “Stitched” Together Provide Different Fractal Fluctuations Compared to Longer Trials
The fractal analysis of stride-to-stride fluctuations in walking has become an integral part of human gait research. Fractal analysis of stride time intervals can provide insights into locomotor function and dysfunction, but its application requires a large number of strides, which can be difficult...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Physiology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphys.2018.00861/full |
| _version_ | 1819054291576422400 |
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| author | Vivien Marmelat Nicholas R. Reynolds Amy Hellman |
| author_facet | Vivien Marmelat Nicholas R. Reynolds Amy Hellman |
| author_sort | Vivien Marmelat |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The fractal analysis of stride-to-stride fluctuations in walking has become an integral part of human gait research. Fractal analysis of stride time intervals can provide insights into locomotor function and dysfunction, but its application requires a large number of strides, which can be difficult to collect from people with movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. It has recently been suggested that “stitching” together short gait trials to create a longer time series could be a solution. The objective of this study was to determine if scaling exponents from “stitched” stride time series were similar to those from continuous, longer stride time series. Fifteen young adults, fourteen older adults, and thirteen people with Parkinson’s disease walked around an indoor track in three blocks: one time 15 min, five times 3 min, and thirty times 30 s. Stride time intervals were determined from gait events recorded with instrumented insoles, and the detrended fluctuation analysis was applied to each stride time series of 512 strides. There was no statistically significant difference between scaling exponents in the three blocks, but intra-class correlation revealed very low between-blocks reliability of scaling exponents. This result challenges the premise that the stitching procedure could provide reliable information about gait dynamics, as it suggests that fractal analysis of stitched time series does not capture the same dynamics as gait recorded continuously. The stitching procedure cannot be considered as a valid alternative to the collection of continuous, long trials. Further studies are recommended to determine if the application of fractal analysis is limited by its own methodological considerations (i.e., long time series), or if other solutions exists to obtain reliable scaling exponents in populations with movement disorders. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T12:49:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2c3c955fbd2349109931bfb8c651a1e4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-042X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T12:49:18Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Physiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-2c3c955fbd2349109931bfb8c651a1e42022-12-21T19:03:32ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Physiology1664-042X2018-07-01910.3389/fphys.2018.00861375254Gait Dynamics in Parkinson’s Disease: Short Gait Trials “Stitched” Together Provide Different Fractal Fluctuations Compared to Longer TrialsVivien Marmelat0Nicholas R. Reynolds1Amy Hellman2Center for Research in Human Movement Variability, Department of Biomechanics, University of Nebraska Omaha, Omaha, NE, United StatesCenter for Research in Human Movement Variability, Department of Biomechanics, University of Nebraska Omaha, Omaha, NE, United StatesDepartment of Neurological Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United StatesThe fractal analysis of stride-to-stride fluctuations in walking has become an integral part of human gait research. Fractal analysis of stride time intervals can provide insights into locomotor function and dysfunction, but its application requires a large number of strides, which can be difficult to collect from people with movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. It has recently been suggested that “stitching” together short gait trials to create a longer time series could be a solution. The objective of this study was to determine if scaling exponents from “stitched” stride time series were similar to those from continuous, longer stride time series. Fifteen young adults, fourteen older adults, and thirteen people with Parkinson’s disease walked around an indoor track in three blocks: one time 15 min, five times 3 min, and thirty times 30 s. Stride time intervals were determined from gait events recorded with instrumented insoles, and the detrended fluctuation analysis was applied to each stride time series of 512 strides. There was no statistically significant difference between scaling exponents in the three blocks, but intra-class correlation revealed very low between-blocks reliability of scaling exponents. This result challenges the premise that the stitching procedure could provide reliable information about gait dynamics, as it suggests that fractal analysis of stitched time series does not capture the same dynamics as gait recorded continuously. The stitching procedure cannot be considered as a valid alternative to the collection of continuous, long trials. Further studies are recommended to determine if the application of fractal analysis is limited by its own methodological considerations (i.e., long time series), or if other solutions exists to obtain reliable scaling exponents in populations with movement disorders.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphys.2018.00861/fullwalkinggait variabilityParkinson’s diseasedetrended fluctuation analysisscaling exponentnonlinear dynamics |
| spellingShingle | Vivien Marmelat Nicholas R. Reynolds Amy Hellman Gait Dynamics in Parkinson’s Disease: Short Gait Trials “Stitched” Together Provide Different Fractal Fluctuations Compared to Longer Trials Frontiers in Physiology walking gait variability Parkinson’s disease detrended fluctuation analysis scaling exponent nonlinear dynamics |
| title | Gait Dynamics in Parkinson’s Disease: Short Gait Trials “Stitched” Together Provide Different Fractal Fluctuations Compared to Longer Trials |
| title_full | Gait Dynamics in Parkinson’s Disease: Short Gait Trials “Stitched” Together Provide Different Fractal Fluctuations Compared to Longer Trials |
| title_fullStr | Gait Dynamics in Parkinson’s Disease: Short Gait Trials “Stitched” Together Provide Different Fractal Fluctuations Compared to Longer Trials |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gait Dynamics in Parkinson’s Disease: Short Gait Trials “Stitched” Together Provide Different Fractal Fluctuations Compared to Longer Trials |
| title_short | Gait Dynamics in Parkinson’s Disease: Short Gait Trials “Stitched” Together Provide Different Fractal Fluctuations Compared to Longer Trials |
| title_sort | gait dynamics in parkinson s disease short gait trials stitched together provide different fractal fluctuations compared to longer trials |
| topic | walking gait variability Parkinson’s disease detrended fluctuation analysis scaling exponent nonlinear dynamics |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphys.2018.00861/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vivienmarmelat gaitdynamicsinparkinsonsdiseaseshortgaittrialsstitchedtogetherprovidedifferentfractalfluctuationscomparedtolongertrials AT nicholasrreynolds gaitdynamicsinparkinsonsdiseaseshortgaittrialsstitchedtogetherprovidedifferentfractalfluctuationscomparedtolongertrials AT amyhellman gaitdynamicsinparkinsonsdiseaseshortgaittrialsstitchedtogetherprovidedifferentfractalfluctuationscomparedtolongertrials |