Research Article

Coupling between limb tremor and postural sway in Parkinson's disease

  1. Graham Kerr BSc, MPhED, PhD1,2,*,
  2. Steven Morrison BPhED, BSc, MPhED, PhD3,
  3. Peter Silburn PhD, FRACP1,2,4

Article first published online: 28 NOV 2007

DOI: 10.1002/mds.21851

Issue

Movement Disorders

Movement Disorders

Volume 23, Issue 3, pages 386–394, 15 February 2008

Additional Information

How to Cite

Kerr, G., Morrison, S. and Silburn, P. (2008), Coupling between limb tremor and postural sway in Parkinson's disease. Mov. Disord., 23: 386–394. doi: 10.1002/mds.21851

Author Information

  1. 1

    School of Human Movement Studies, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland, Australia

  2. 2

    Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland, Australia

  3. 3

    School of Physical Therapy, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA

  4. 4

    School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia

*School of Human Movement Studies and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, 60 Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, Queensland 4059, Australia

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 25 FEB 2008
  2. Article first published online: 28 NOV 2007
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 17 OCT 2007
  4. Manuscript Revised: 11 OCT 2007
  5. Manuscript Received: 16 NOV 2006

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Keywords:

  • Parkinson's disease;
  • tremor;
  • oscillations;
  • postural stability;
  • coherence.

Abstract

Increased tremor and postural instability are motor problems commonly associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). Despite the similarity between these oscillatory forms, little is known about the relation between them, especially for individuals with enhanced tremor. This study was designed to examine the nature of any relation between center of pressure (COP) excursions and postural/resting limb tremor of young, older individuals, and Parkinsonian participants in their different medication states. The resting and postural tremor for the PD participants was characterized by a single, prominent peak frequency between 4 and 7 Hz. The postural tremor for young/older participants contained smaller peaks between 1 to 4 and 7 to 12 Hz although no prominent peak was seen in their resting tremor. The AP and ML COP dynamics of all participants was characterized by a major peak between 0.1 and 0.5 Hz. An additional peak was observed in the COP output of the PD participants between 4 and 7 Hz. While no tremor-COP coupling was observed for the young/old groups, coherence analysis revealed a significant degree of coupling between COP motion and tremor between 4 and 7 Hz for PD participants. These results highlight that the amplified tremor in PD can manifest itself in COP dynamics. This finding may have implications for postural stability for this patient group. © 2007 Movement Disorder Society

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