Study Rationale: Freezing of gait (FoG) is a disabling walking problem that leads to loss of mobility, falling and poor quality of life in many people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). People with FoG describe it as a feeling that their feet are glued or stuck to the floor, making forward movement difficult. There are currently no treatments for preventing FoG; to address this need, we will examine the potential of an intervention that involves the use of wearable, soft robotic apparel to improve walking and prevent FoG in people with PD.
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the robotic apparel will prevent FoG by increasing step length and improving smoothness of walking under a wide range of conditions.
Study Design: Our proof-of-concept study will enroll 20 people with PD and FoG to participate in eight study visits performed in laboratory and in home or community settings. We will use wearable robotic apparel (developed Harvard University and Boston University), designed for people with PD. This apparel provides assistance at the hip to encourage swinging the legs forward during walking, preventing the small steps that lead to FoG. We will assess whether robotic apparel relieves FoG during straight-ahead walking, turning, multitasking, when PD medications take effect and wear off, as well as under conditions known to trigger freezing episodes.
Impact on Treatment of Parkinson’s disease: Our initial proof-of-concept study (published in Nature Medicine, 2024) showed, for the first time, that FoG can be prevented reliably using lightweight, wearable robotic apparel. If this study demonstrates robust FoG-preventing effects, our robotic apparel will provide a new treatment that will improve daily walking and prevent FoG in PD.
Next Steps for Development: Our research team will translate our wearable technology from the research laboratory to an industry partner to commercialize the soft robotic apparel. Then we will move forward with larger studies to amass additional evidence on the effectiveness of robotic apparel in preventing FoG in people with PD.