TY - Journal Article AU - Cochen De Cock, Valérie AU - Dotov, Dobromir AU - Damm, Loic AU - Lacombe, Sandy AU - Ihalainen, Petra AU - Picot, Marie Christine AU - Galtier, Florence AU - Lebrun, Cindy AU - Giordano, Aurélie AU - Driss, Valérie AU - Geny, Christian AU - Garzo, Ainara AU - Hernandez, Erik AU - Van Dyck, Edith AU - Leman, Marc AU - Villing, Rudi AU - Bardy, Benoit G. AU - Dalla Bella, Simone TI - BeatWalk: Personalized Music-Based Gait Rehabilitation in Parkinson’s Disease PY - 2021 PB - Frontiers Media S.A. AB - Taking regular walks when living with Parkinson’s disease (PD) has beneficial effects on movement and quality of life. Yet, patients usually show reduced physical activity compared to healthy older adults. Using auditory stimulation such as music can facilitate walking but patients vary significantly in their response. An individualized approach adapting musical tempo to patients’ gait cadence, and capitalizing on these individual differences, is likely to provide a rewarding experience, increasing motivation for walk-in PD. We aim to evaluate the observance, safety, tolerance, usability, and enjoyment of a new smartphone application. It was coupled with wearable sensors (BeatWalk) and delivered individualized musical stimulation for gait auto-rehabilitation at home. Forty-five patients with PD underwent a 1-month, outdoor, uncontrolled gait rehabilitation program, using the BeatWalk application (30 min/day, 5 days/week). The music tempo was being aligned in real-time to patients’ gait cadence in a way that could foster an increase up to +10% of their spontaneous cadence. Open-label evaluation was based on BeatWalk use measures, questionnaires, and a six-minute walk test. Patients used the application 78.8% (±28.2) of the prescribed duration and enjoyed it throughout the program. The application was considered “easy to use” by 75% of the patients. Pain, fatigue, and falls did not increase. Fear of falling decreased and quality of life improved. After the program, patients improved their gait parameters in the six-minute walk test without musical stimulation. BeatWalk is an easy to use, safe, and enjoyable musical application for individualized gait rehabilitation in PD. It increases “walk for exercise” duration thanks to high observance. SN - 1664-1078 UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11556/1121 DX - 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.655121 ER -