A critical appraisal of "Effects of visual and auditory cues on gait initiation in people with Parkinson's disease"

Abstract

The purpose of this appraisal was to critically assess the article "Effects of visual and auditory cues on gait initiation in people with Parkinson's disease"�, which was chosen after a literature search for its relevance to the proposed clinical question, "Are auditory cues effective in improving gait initiation in Parkinson's patients experiencing freeze gait?"� The strengths and weaknesses of all sections of the research article were evaluated, including the introduction, methods, results, and discussion. Many of the questionable aspects of the article arise from the researchers' failure to provide important information, including whether the researchers or participants were masked to the group assignments and the validity and reliability of the data collection equipment used. Additionally, credibility of some of the literature used was questionable. However, the researchers were detailed in their methods, forthcoming in their limitations, and related their findings to current literature and explained the clinical significance. In conclusion, the intervention, visual cueing, was deemed acceptable to be utilized in the clinical setting for Parkinson's patient with gait initiation difficulties if the appropriate resources for measuring progress were available.

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