Parkinsons Patients? How about textured insoles or walking barefoot more?

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Is it at all surprising that increasing afferent input (in this case: textured insoles) to one of the areas in the brain (parasaggital sulcus in the post central gyrus) from one of the structures that has the greatest cortical representation (ie the feet) can improve gait on folks that have a disorder with their basal ganglia (which provides background positioning of joints)?

"After one week of insole wear, plantar sensation and stride length were significantly improved relative to baseline; the improvement in plantar sensation was maintained after another week of wearing conventional insoles."

 

Lirani-Silva E, Vitorio R, Barbieri FA, et al. Continuous use of textured insole improve plantar sensation and stride length of people with Parkinson disease: A pilot study. Gait Posture 2017;58:495-497.

 

Something you can do NOW to help Parkinsons folks

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Anything that can help get more balance and coordination info to the higher centers is a plus for Parkinsons folks, and the texture of the surface they are walking on or the texture of the insole is no different. The more afferent info we can get in through the tactile receptors, joint mechanoreceptors and muscle receptors like the spindles and golgi tendon organs, the better. These all feed (eventually or sometimes directly) to the cerebellum, the king of balance.

In this study they placed little half spheres at the distal phalanx of the hallux, heads of metatarsophalangeal joints and heel. Theses are all areas of increased cortical representation when you look at the sensory homunculus.  They wore them for a week and plantar sensation and stride length both improved, but only the increased plantar sensation remained. Neuroplasticity takes time and we are willing to bet that if they wore them longer, the results would have been more profound.

Sometimes the simplest interventions can go a long way.

 

Lirani-Silva E, Vitorio R, Barbieri FA, et al. Continuous use of textured insole improve plantar sensation and stride length of people with Parkinson disease: A pilot study. Gait Posture 2017;58:495-497. [

Podcast 47: The Thigh Gap & Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome

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Podcast 47 is live !

Topics: Lots of cool stuff for your ears and brains today. Don’t miss this show on Allen’s Rule Part 2, ankle biosensors, Parkinson’s syndrome gait disorder, Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome, The Thigh Gap disorder, and the ever confusing and much debated Abductory Heel Twist in walking and in runners. Don’t miss this show !

A. Link to our server:

http://thegaitguys.libsyn.com/podcast-47-the-thigh-gap-medial-tibial-stress-syndrome

B. iTunes link:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-gait-guys-podcast/id559864138

C. Gait Guys online /download store (National Shoe Fit Certification and more !) :

http://store.payloadz.com/results/results.aspx?m=80204

D. other web based Gait Guys lectures:

www.onlinece.com   type in Dr. Waerlop or Dr. Allen,  ”Biomechanics”

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* Today’s show notes:

Neuroscience piece
1. Update on Allen’s Rule blog post:
2. Could a simple ankle sensor help with parkinsons symptoms ?
3. Probiotics Boost Running Performance in Heat
5 Gait Factoid:  the foot abductory twist
6.  Note from melissa on her 9 month leg pain.
Disclaimer 
7 . National Shoe Fit Program
8 . medial tibial stress syndrome
9. from a blog reader:
The thigh-gap obsession is not new but it’s the most extreme body fixation yet