Found the signal in the brain that controls the action of walking, indicating when the action begins and the times when it begins and ends.
Published in the journal Brain Stimulation, the result promises to pave the way for future personalized therapies for Parkinson's disease based on deep brain stimulation.
The research was conducted in Italy by the Institute of BioRobotics of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa, in collaboration with the University Hospital of Wurzburg and the University of Genoa.
Deep brain stimulation is based on electrical stimulation in certain areas of the brain and is able to eliminate certain symptoms such as hand tremor.
There are methods to make it more effective, also reducing the risk of side effects, but which require you to know the patient's status.
The objective of the study was "to create a flexible therapy, able to understand the patient's condition and needs, and to adapt to them", observes Alberto Mazzoni, of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.
By recording the brain activity of some patients while they were walking, it was seen that "a change in frequency takes place, a bit like when we make long journeys in the car and to continue to follow the same radio we have to change the frequency".
The same, he continues, happens in a person with Parkinson's: "when he starts walking, a certain rhythm in his brain activity shifts in frequency. This happens precisely in the areas where the disease originates and where we apply the therapy".
Researchers have developed a new mathematical technique that allows this change in frequency to be detected immediately.
Thanks to this signal, therefore, it will be possible in the future to modulate deep brain stimulation to focus it on Parkinson's disorders associated with walking.