Effects of Protective Step Training on Proactive and Reactive Motor Adaptations in Parkinson's Disease Patients

February 3, 2026 updated by: Arizona State University
The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent PD affects the ability to walk, respond to balance perturbations (i.e., Protective Step Training) and produce acute short-term effects to improve compensatory reactions and control of unperturbed walking balance.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Understanding the mechanism of compensation and neuroplasticity to unexpected step perturbation training during walking and static stance can have positive implications on the treatment of PD by helping to design effective training paradigms that remediate fall risk. Current rehabilitation therapies are inadequate at reducing falls in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). While pharmacologic and surgical treatments have proved largely ineffective in treating postural instability and gait dysfunction in people with PD, studies have demonstrated that therapy specifically focusing on posture, gait, and balance may significantly improve these factors and reduce falls. The primary goal of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a novel and promising intervention therapy (protective step training - i.e., PST - balance disturbance/perturbation during treadmill walking) to improve balance as measured by the reaction time and reduce falls in people with PD. A secondary goal was to understand the effects of PST on proactive and reactive feedback responses during stance and gait tasks. Multi-baseline, repeated measures analyses were performed on the multitude of proactive and reactive performance measures to assess the effects of PST on gait and postural stability parameters.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

12

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Arizona
      • Glendale, Arizona, United States, 85302
        • Glencroft Senior Living: Retirement Community in Arizona

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • able to ambulate without assistance
  • had no known neurologic, cardiovascular, or orthopedic deficit - (Mini-Mental Status Examination <25), and had a Hoehn & Yahr (H&Y) score between II-III.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • exhibited functionally disabling dyskinesia
  • has dystonia, orthostatic hypotension,
  • had neurosurgical intervention (deep brain stimulation)
  • has and any significant musculoskeletal or metabolic disorders.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Standing Perturbation Protocol
Different postural perturbations were administered - while walking and while standing.
Behavioral: Protective Step Training
Perturbation during standing and walking to actively assess proactive as well as reactive motor adaptations.
Other Names:
  • perturbation training
  • reactive step training
Experimental: Walking Perturbation Protocol
Different postural perturbations were administered - while walking and while standing.
Behavioral: Protective Step Training
Perturbation during standing and walking to actively assess proactive as well as reactive motor adaptations.
Other Names:
  • perturbation training
  • reactive step training

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Joint (knee) reaction time
Time Frame: one year
Joint (knee) Reaction time during standing and walking perturbations.
one year

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Arizona State University

Collaborators

U.S. National Science Foundation

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 19, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 18, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

March 18, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 12, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 3, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

February 10, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 10, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 3, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00015237

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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