Gait Training With Cognitive Tasks in Parkinson's Disease

The Experimental Group underwent treadmill gait training simultaneously to a protocol of cognitive tasks created specifically for this study, based on cognitive activities proposed in previous studies. The training sessions lasted 20 minutes. The first three minutes allowed subjects to familiarize themselves with the treadmill. From the 4th minute onward, the volunteer walked for 1 minute while performing cognitive tasks, and in the following minute, only walked. Thus, the 17 remaining minutes on the treadmill alternated between one minute of treadmill training combined with a cognitive task and the following minute only treadmill training. Treadmill gait speed was that reported by the patient as the fastest possible speed while maintaining a suitable comfort level.