Wearable Sensors Measure Ankle Joint Changes of Patients with Parkinson's Disease before and after Acute Levodopa Challenge.

Background: Previous studies found levodopa could improve the activity of the ankle joints of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). But ankle joint movement is composed of four motion ranges. The specific changes of four motion ranges in PD remain unknown.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to decompose the complex ankle joint movement, measure ankle joint changes before and after the acute levodopa challenge test (ALCT), and investigate the effects of these parameters on gait performance.

Methods: 29 PD patients and 30 healthy control subjects (HC) completed the Instrumented Stand and Walk (ISAW) test and gait parameters were collected by the JiBuEn gait analysis system. The percentage of improvement of gait data and the UPDRS III in the on-drug condition (ON) were determined with respect to the off-drug condition (OFF).

Results: We observed a reduction in the heel strike angle (HS), 3-plantarflexion (3-PF) angle, and 4-dorsiflexion (4-DF) angle of ankle joints. We did not find significant difference in the toe-off angle (TO), 1-plantarflexion (1-PF) angle, and 2-dorsiflexion (2-DF) angle among three groups. Stride length improvement rate was significantly correlated with HS (  = 0.616, < 0.001) and 3-PF (  = 0.639, < 0.001) improvement rates. The improvement in the sum of rigidity items (UPDRS motor subsection item 22) was also correlated with HS (  = 0.389, =0.037) and 3-PF (  = 0.373, =0.046) improvement rates.

Conclusions: Exogenous levodopa supplementation can significantly reduce the rigidity of patients with PD, improve their 3-PF and 4-DF of ankle joint kinematic parameters, and ultimately enhance their gait.