Kinematic analysis of upper limb trajectories in Parkinson's disease

doi:10.1016/0014-4886(92)90038-R

Experimental Neurology

Volume 118, Issue 2, November 1992, Pages 215-226

https://doi.org/10.1016/0014-4886(92)90038-R Get rights and content

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the kinematic properties of upper limb trajectories in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and to investigate the role of visual feedback from the moving limb. Boyond the characteristic bradykinesia, PD patients differed from controls by generating hand trajectories with asymmetrical velocity profiles that lacked smoothness and were composed of a short initial accelerative phase, followed by a prolonged interval composed of alternating decelerative and accelerative phases. In both groups, the reaction times for movements directed away from the body were longer than for movements directed toward the body; this effect was accentuated in PD. In both groups, initial peak accelerations were significantly larger for distally as compared to proximally directed movements. In the absence of visual feedback from the limb a deterioration in the accuracy of reaching the target was observed in both control and PD patients only for distally directed movements. However, this deterioration and the effect of target location on final accuracy was substantially larger in PD. Taken together, our study suggests that in PD visual information is continuously relied upon for ongoing movement correction, therefore accentuating the bradykinesia. The deficit in final accuracy in the absence of visual feedback reflects the important role played by the basal ganglia in sensorimotor integration.

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Kinematic analysis of upper limb trajectories in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Prog. Brain Res.

Brain Res.

The mysterious motor function of the basal ganglia

Neurology

Disturbances of sequential movements in patients with Parkinson's disease

Brain

Invariant characteristics of a pointing movement in man

J. Neurosci.

Human arm trajectory formation

Brain

The coordination of arm movement: an experimentally confirmed mathematical model

J. Neurosci.

On reaching

Ann. Rev. Neurosci.

Dynamic interactions between limb segments during planar arm movements

Biol. Cybern.

Spatial control of arm movements

Exp. Brain Res.

Effect of target size on spatial and temporal characteristics of a pointing g movement in man

Exp. Brain Res.

The accuracy of voluntary movement

Corollary discharge: Motor commands and perception

Visual “closed-loop” and “open-loop” characteristics of voluntary movement in patients with Parkinsonism and intention tremor

Brain

Visual feedback and motor performance in human and animal basal ganglia dysfunction

Psychomotor performance in Parkinson's disease

Quantitative methods for the assessment of motor performance in parkinson's disease

Parkinsonism: Onset, progression and mortality

Neurology