Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Clinical Gait Analysis and Gait Rehabilitation
A collaboration between:
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Motor Control in Adults and Children with Movement Disorders
How does the brain control walking?
Finding out how the brain controls walking is a vital step in helping people with basal ganglia diseases such as Parkinson disease, Asperger syndrome and Frontal Gait Apraxia.
As scientists better understand how these diseases disrupt the body's central motor control mechanisms, it will open the way to better treatments and rehabilitation.
One study investigates the inter-relationships of gait variables, speed and ageing. Another project aims to identify brain areas involved in gait control mechanisms by use of mapping of electrical potentials from the skull.
At a more specific level, researchers are using 3D motion analysis to study the biomechanics and motor control needed to turn while walking – an action that becomes difficult for people with Parkinson disease and often causes falls.
The Gait CCRE team is also looking at how Parkinson disease affects a person's ability to stop walking. The results will show whether the disease scales down the basic stopping mechanism, or if a completely different mechanism is used.
Another important study is looking for the cause of frontal gait apraxia, which affects up to 20% of elderly people.
Children with autism and Asperger syndrome will be the focus of a large project to improve the diagnosis of the motor dysfunction aspects of Pervasive Development Disorders. Researchers will determine whether gait impairment differs between groups and identify if gait patterning implicates dysfunction in regions of the motor system.
There is also work underway on cerebellar-related gait function in a study of people with the rare genetic disorder Williams syndrome. The research applies a number of different conditions and a range of motor assessment methodologies.
Researchers are also evaluating the clinical outcomes of deep brain stimulation surgery and conducting a randomised controlled trial of rehabilitation during inpatient management of people with Parkinson disease.