Online Motor Control in People With Parkinson's Disease
Online Motor Control in People With Parkinson's Disease
This study aims to better understand how people with Parkinson's control reaching movements.
 Specifically, we are asking how these individuals respond to different environmental
 perturbations. Testing includes reaching movements made within a virtual reality set-up.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, affecting
 approximately up to 10 million people worldwide and with 60,000 new cases diagnosed annually
 in the U.S. alone. Some of the most common signs and symptoms in individuals with PD are
 slowed and small movements and difficulty in movement initiation. The ability to correct
 movements online in response to environmental changes is an important part of daily living.
 Online movement corrections in reaching refer to the ability to smoothly change how and where
 you reach in response to a change in the environment. For example, one can adjust the
 position of the hand and arm when trying to catch a butterfly flying in the air. Generally
 speaking, online movement corrections can happen in response to visual perturbations (e.g.,
 trying to catch a butterfly) or to force perturbations (e.g., someone knocks your hand while
 you're holding a coffee mug). Since individuals with PD have trouble with movements, it
 stands to reason that they may have problems with online movement corrections. Surprisingly,
 very little is known about online movement corrections in individuals with PD. The current
 evidence suggests that individuals with PD can make online movement corrections to small
 visual perturbations, but whether they can successfully respond to large visual perturbations
 is debatable. Furthermore, whether individuals with PD can make online movement corrections
 to force perturbations has not been studied. The aim of this project is to investigate if
 individuals with PD can make online movement corrections during reaching to visual and/or
 force perturbations. We will test both individuals with PD and age-matched healthy controls.
 They will perform reaching movements while visual or force perturbations are applied. We will
 use various perturbation strengths in order to test for potential differences in responses to
 small and large perturbations. Results from this study will provide new information on how
 individuals with PD make online movement corrections, and possibly provide insight to
 improving rehabilitation for PD.
Inclusion criteria (all participants):

 -  Age 18-85 years

 -  Able to perform reaching movements of ~20 cm (8 inches)

 -  MMSE score ≥ 26/30

 -  Willing and able to attend all testing sessions

 Inclusion criteria (PD group only):

 -  Diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease per self report

 -  Currently taking dopaminergic/dopamine agonist medication

 Exclusion criteria (all participants):

 -  Any chronic or recent upper extremity musculoskeletal conditions that affects reaching

 -  Any neurological disorders other than Parkinson's disease (e.g., seizure disorders,
 closed head injuries with loss of consciousness greater than 15 minutes, CNS neoplasm,
 history of stroke)