Difficulty walking is one of the most common symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, but exercise and therapy can help ease mobility challenges.
Several technology solutions recently have been aimed at improving coordination in those with Parkinson’s, and one of the latest innovations is completely free: a phone app that promises to “improve your walking ability in as little as five minutes per day.”
The App, Walking Tall, includes a gait-retraining tool and gives users a rhythmic beat for different walking speeds to help trigger movement, the app’s creators explain.
In a clinical trial on the app’s viability, those who usd it for 13 weeks reported walking and exercising two-and-a-half times as long — 150 minutes compared with 60 — as those who did not.
Of the approximately one million Americans who have Parkinson’s disease, about a fourth are living in long-term care facilities, research shows. The number of people with the disease is expected to increase steadily, at a rate of around 90,000 per year, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation.
Walking Tall’s development was co-funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation; the research was led by a team at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. One of the co-creators of the app, Martin Ostrowski, MD, lives with Parkinson’s.
Similar tools involving rhythm and music to spur walking rehabilitation have been created but are aimed at people who have had strokes.
For people with Parkinson’s, one recent tech tool that may help is Cala kIQ System, a wearable device that leads to reduced tremors. Recent research also has shown that virtual therapy is a viable option for treating Parkinson’s and helping with gait and mobility issues, the McKnight’s Tech Daily reported last month.
