BackgroundGait disorders in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) may be associated with alterations in the motor control system and aggravated by psychoemotional and cognitive issues. Therapeutic strategies aimed at self-perception and motor regulation seem to be promising. Motor imagery (MI) has been shown to be one of these strategies, but there is still no clear evidence of its applicability in this population. The aim of this trial is to determine the effects of motor-imagery training on the gait and electroencephalographic activity of individuals with PD.Methods/designThe sample will consist of 40 individuals, aged between 45 and 75 years, in the mild and moderate phase of the disease, with the ability to generate voluntary mental images. They will be assessed for cognitive level, degree of physical disability, mental-image clarity, kinematic gait variables, electroencephalographic activity and mobility. Next, subjects will be randomly assigned to an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG). The EG will perform motor imagery and gait, while the CG will only engage in gait exercises. Twelve training sessions will be conducted lasting up to 90 min each, three times a week, for 4 weeks. The subjects will be reassessed on the kinematic variables of gait, electroencephalographic activity and mobility at 1, 7 and 30 days after the final training session.DiscussionThe results may provide an important advance in neurological rehabilitation where an easy-access and low-cost intervention may help to improve gait, electroencephalographic activity and mobility in individuals with PD.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov, ID: NCT03439800. Registered on 15 November 2017.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13063-019-3694-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
As discussões sobre a inclusão social das pessoas com deficiência física na sociedade apontam para a importância de ambientes acessíveis que lhes permitam exercitar o direito de acesso aos diferentes espaços sociais. Diante disso, objetivou-se verificar a acessibilidade de alguns espaços de lazer na cidade do Natal/RN. O estudo descritivo foi realizado em ambientes de lazer – praias, parques, cinemas e teatros – que foram avaliados através de um roteiro composto de 14 itens que consistem em estruturas físicas de acesso aos espaços. Observou-se que os cinemas foram os que possuíam melhores condições de acesso seguido dos parques. Concluiu-se que os ambientes de lazer avaliados necessitam de melhorias para permitir que as pessoas com deficiência física ou mobilidade reduzida exerçam sua cidadania nos espaços de lazer.
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