The effect of cognitive training on freezing of gait in patients with Parkinson's disease

Freezing of gait (FOG) is a common and disabling feature of Parkinson’s disease (PD).This phenomenon is associated with cognitive functions. So, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks cognitive training on freezing of gait in patients with Parkinson’s disease.
A quasi-experimental study was conducted on 14 Parkinson’s disease patients (mean age 60.21±10.92 years) with freezing of gait (2-5 Hohn and Yahr scale). The participants were selected through convenience sampling and were randomly assigned to treatment (4 males and 3 females) and control (5 males and 2 females) groups. The treatment group received an 8-week cognitive training; however, the control group performed their daily activities. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. An analysis of covariance (α=0/05) was used to analyze the collected data.
The results showed that there is a significant effect of cognitive training on reducing freezing of gait severity, frequency and total scores for the treatment group compared with the control group (p Cognitive training can be an appropriate training method to help improve freezing of gait in patients with Parkinson’s disease.