Fine Motor Serious Game Training Improves Gait in Parkinson’s Disease: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

People with Parkinson’s Disease (PwPDs) experience difficulties with gross motor skills, like walking, and fine motor processes. These functions may interact, but evidence of causal links between them is scarce. We tested the effect of a fine motor skills training delivered using serious games on tablet on walking capacities in PwPDs. Thirty PwPDs played a video game on tablet (rhythm game or Tetris ) four times a week for six weeks. Gait was evaluated before and after the training. Gait speed, stride length and cadence improved for spontaneous and dual-task conditions in comparison with a Control group (n = 12) of PwPDs who did not receive any training. These findings suggest that fine motor training administered via serious games can improve gross motor skills, opening promising perspectives for affordable, engaging telerehabilitation methods.

This study was registered as a clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov, registration NCT02855710 )