Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease that makes it difficult for people to regulate their voluntary movements. Parkinson's disease affects about 500,000 Americans and causes symptoms such as stiffness, slowness of movement, and a hunched back. For this reason, the way the patient walks; How to walkis one of the main ways doctors determine the quality of life of Parkinson's disease patients. Doctors have developed a variety of treatments for Parkinson's disease, but few have been able to help patients walk.
Scientists have discovered that walking problems in Parkinson's disease patients are related to brain overactivity. This hyperactivity is caused by brain wave patterns. beta bandIt is located in a specific area of ​​the brain that regulates movement, known as the . subthalamic nucleusor STN. Researchers have developed treatments that modulate STN activity, but it is not known whether changing the associated brain wave patterns can help patients walk more easily.
Previous researchers have shown that electrical stimulation of a patient's skin in different areas can stimulate nerves that regulate muscle tone and other bodily functions. vagus nerve. Scientists in Italy and the United Kingdom recently discovered that a form of electrical stimulation Transauricular vagus nerve stimulation taVNS may help people with Parkinson's disease walk.
To perform taVNS, researchers placed electrodes in the outer ears of Parkinson's disease patients to stimulate the vagus nerve. Scientists had two main questions. Does taVNS reduce STN beta-band wave activity, and does this reduction in activity allow Parkinson's disease patients to walk more easily?
Researchers enrolled 10 people with Parkinson's disease in the study. Each patient was treated with a different type of electrical stimulation to the STN. They asked participants to stop taking traditional Parkinson's medications the night before the taVNS test and turned off electrical stimulation an hour before the test.
During the taVNS test, scientists applied two types of stimulation to each patient. One stimulated the vagus nerve through the ear, and the other stimulated another area that did not affect the brain. imitative stimulus. They ran each type of simulation on the patient four times for two minutes, with one minute in between.
The researchers also measured the patients' involuntary side-to-side movements while walking. swaythe time it took to change direction mid-test, or Rotation timemeasure the total number of steps, step length variability, total walking time, and walking speed, and compare the effects of real and imitation treatments on patients. Finally, each patient's quality of life was physically assessed using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Part III.
The scientists found that during taVNS, patients' STN beta-band waves were 7% weaker on the right side than during mimic stimulation. They also found that taVNS improved patients' step length variability, total walking time, and walking speed. The researchers also used statistical tests to show that participants with less active STN beta-band brainwave patterns walked faster. However, there was no significant improvement in patients' quality of life based on rating scale scores.
The researchers concluded that taVNS could help Parkinson's patients walk faster, perhaps by altering brain waves in the STN beta band. They also pointed out that taVNS is a non-invasive treatment, meaning it does not require surgery or implantation into the body, and is much more affordable than invasive treatments. The scientists acknowledged that their study was small, and future researchers will look to do more research to further understand how STN beta-band waves are related to gait in Parkinson's disease. He emphasized the need to conduct trials in large patient groups.
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Source: sciworthy.com
