People with Parkinson’s Disease Are Able to Couple Eye Movements and Postural Sway to Improve Stability
Fabio Augusto Barbieri,
Paula Favaro Polastri,
José Angelo Barela,
Cédrick T. Bonnet,
Matheus Belizario Brito,
Sergio Tosi Rodrigues
Affiliations
Fabio Augusto Barbieri
Human Movement Research Laboratory (MOVI-LAB), Department of Physical Education, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Bauru 17033-360, SP, Brazil
Paula Favaro Polastri
Laboratory of Information, Vision and Action (LIVIA), Department of Physical Education, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Bauru 17033-360, SP, Brazil
José Angelo Barela
Institute of Biosciences, Department of Physical Education, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Rio Claro 13506-900, SP, Brazil
Cédrick T. Bonnet
UMR 9193-SCALab-Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, National Center for the Scientific Research (CNRS), Univ. Lille, F-59000 Lille, France
Matheus Belizario Brito
Laboratory of Information, Vision and Action (LIVIA), Department of Physical Education, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Bauru 17033-360, SP, Brazil
Sergio Tosi Rodrigues
Laboratory of Information, Vision and Action (LIVIA), Department of Physical Education, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Bauru 17033-360, SP, Brazil
Considering that people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) experience challenges in the control of both balance and eye movements, this study investigated the effects of saccadic eye movements on body sway in people with PD in two bases of support positions (side-by-side and tandem stances). Ten people with PD and 11 healthy individuals performed (a) fixation; (b) horizontal saccadic eye movements to the right and left; and (c) vertical saccadic eye movements up and down. The protocol for each postural task consisted of one block of six trials, making a total of 12 trials. Body sway and gaze parameters were measured during the trials. In both people with PD and healthy individuals, anterior–posterior body sway was significantly reduced in horizontal saccadic eye movements in contrast to fixation, regardless of the body position (side-by-side and tandem stances). Furthermore, vertical saccadic eye movements increased the area of sway in contrast to horizontal ones (and not to fixation) in people with PD. In addition, people with PD showed a higher number of fixations in all experimental conditions, without changes in the mean duration of fixations in both body positions. In conclusion, individuals with PD can improve body sway by coupling eye movements and postural sway when performing horizontal saccadic eye movements but not when performing vertical saccadic eye movements.
