ACUTE EFFECT OF INTERMITTENT HYPOXIA ON INTERMUSCULAR COHERENCE ON GAIT IN PEOPLE WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE

Abstract

Parkinson's Disease is characterized by a neurological dysfunction that can result in motor impairments, such as muscle rigidity, postural instability, resting tremor, and bradykinesia. These changes are accompanied by reduced activations of the gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior during swing phase of the gait cycle. People with PD reduce and poorly modulate the distal leg muscles activity during gait, and show a higher intermuscular coherence in theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands during a leg extension. However, intermuscular coherence it has received little attention in PD so far, especially during walking. Therefore, optimizing the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) is essential to alleviate the motor and non-motor symptoms, especially those related to walking, which is important for daily activities. Intermittent normobaric hypoxia (IH), although little studied in PD, has gained visibility in recent years, revealing an improvement in motor symptoms. More specifically, in obese and spinal cord injured IH application increased other walking speed and dynamics. This intervention has revealed positive effects on iron homeostasis and mitochondrial function, which are essential for neural survival, and may be a promising strategy to improve gait. Therefore, the objective of this project is to expand theoretical knowledge and data analysis related to intermuscular coherence analysis during gait, and to investigate the acute effect of intermittent hypoxia on this parameter. To this end, neurologically healthy people and people with PD will perform two oxygen availability conditions: HI - the oxygen concentration will alternate: 5min in hypoxia and 5min in normoxia; and normoxia - there will be no change in oxygen concentration (total of 35 minutes in both conditions). Gait (kinematic and muscular parameters) will be assessed before, immediately after and 24 h after the interventions. The calculation will then be carried out to analyze muscle coherence. With this, we hope to significantly contribute to the application of HI in rehabilitation programs for people with PD.