Feasibility Study for Long-term Wearable Telerehabilitation for Parkinson Disease

A long term telerehabilitation system is a feasible wearable device (smartphone + 2 inertial measurement units [IMUs] on the shoes + 1 IMU on the chest) to provide individuals with Parkinson disease (PD) gait training outside of specialized centers. In the CuPiD study trial, participants used the system for 6 weeks without adverse events. 

The study had an enrollment of 20 participants with PD partake in gait training at home in their ON time for 30 minutes, 3 times/week for 9 months using the telerehabilitation system. The system provides audio feedback and instruction based on the locomotor patterns evaluated by the IMUs.

The participants (n=9) who finished the program had an average of 27.45 minutes, 1.77 km walked, and 1.1 m/s gait speed per exercise session and 70% on average showed correct use of the system.

The long-term digitally-assisted gait training in PD is feasible to provide remote gait rehabilitation sessions over an extended period of time.