Mental Practice Combined With Physical Practice to Improve the Gait Performance of People With Parkinson's Disease

Among the impairments associated to Parkinson's disease, gait disturbance is one of which that has the most negative impact on the independence in daily living activities and quality of life of people living with Parkinson's disease. Despite the considerable amount of research, we have no consensus about the most efficient physiotherapeutic approach to improve the gait disturbance. Mental practice is considered an efficient strategy to improve the motor performance in healthy individuals and people with stroke. However, there is scarce evidence about its therapeutic results to improve the gait performance in people living with Parkinson's disease. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the effects of gait mental practice associated to physical practice to improve the gait performance in people living with Parkinson's disease.