How an early sign of dementia could be difficulty walking a curved path – an expert says to beware of gait changes in loved ones
- Walking along a curve demands better balance, coordination and cognitive input than straight walking; problems doing so may help flag dementia early, study says
- A writer’s mother who developed dementia began to list when walking, as if drifting off her path, long before she began to show signs of forgetfulness
Commissioned to write a play to raise awareness of dementia sufferers’ experiences, Dani Shapiro took part in a virtual dementia tour for which she donned scratched goggles and earphones that played random noises – loudly.
Wearing several pairs of gloves made it difficult to move or use her fingers. And wearing shoes with sharp spikes in the soles made her shuffle awkwardly.
I remember that shuffling in my mother; it grew more pronounced as her illness advanced, and is a common feature of Alzheimer’s disease.
Behnaz Ghoraani, co-director of Florida Atlantic University’s Centre for Smart Health, in the US, has a PhD in engineering. But her research intersects with healthcare and offers insights into conditions such as dementia.
She and her team recently published a study into walking, specifically “curve walking”.
