Rodrigo VitórioNorthumbria University · Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Rodrigo Vitório
PhD, MSc
About
131
Publications
17,374
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
1,806
Citations
Introduction
Additional affiliations
April 2021 - present
October 2019 - April 2021
July 2017 - July 2018
Education
August 2010 - January 2015
August 2007 - December 2009
February 2002 - December 2006
Publications
Publications (131)
Research investigating aging and neurological disorders that affect gait and balance aim to increase the understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms involved in task performance. Traditional brain-imaging techniques are restricted in their use in studies assessing brain activity during real-time balance and walking tasks, often restrained to...
Ocular microtremor (OMT) is a fixational eye movement that cannot be seen with the naked eye but is always present, even when the eye appears motionless/still. The link between OMT and brain function provides a strong rationale for investigation as there lies potential for its use as a biomarker in populations with neurological impairments. OMT fre...
Introduction:
Higher cortical activity has been observed in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) during walking and dual-tasking. However, further studies in overground walking and considering pre-frontal cortex (PFC) sub-areas are necessary.
Objectives:
To investigate PFC activity during a cognitive-motor dual-task (DT) and its single component t...
Background
Walking abnormalities in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are characterized by a shift in locomotor control from healthy automaticity to compensatory, executive control, mainly located in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Although PFC activity during walking increases in people with PD, the time course of PFC activity during walking and i...
OBJECTIVE: Vestibular/ocular deficits occur with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The vestibular/ocular motor screening (VOMS) tool is used to assess individuals post-mTBI, which primarily relies upon subjective self-reported symptoms. Instrumenting the VOMS (iVOMS) with technology may allow for more objective assessment post-mTBI, which reflect...
Background
Concussions result in transient symptoms stemming from a cortical metabolic energy crisis. Though this metabolic energy crisis typically resolves in a month, symptoms can persist for years. The symptomatic period is associated with gait dysfunction, the cortical underpinnings of which are poorly understood. Quantifying prefrontal cortex...
The use of wearable technologies (wearables) in neuroscience could have significant potential to e.g., better understand and manage disorders like Parkinson's Disease (PD), epilepsy, and stroke. Wearables could routinely offer insights by providing digital biomarkers during daily activities, enhancing clinical understanding of real-world challenges...
Poster presentation of a systematic literature review of neural correlates of balance in people with Parkinson's disease.
Background
Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technology has allowed for the measurement of cerebral and skeletal muscle oxygenation simultaneously during exercise. Since this technology has been growing and is now successfully used in laboratory and sports settings, this systematic review aimed to synthesize the evidence and enhance an integrative...
Background
Gait and balance impairments are among the main causes of falls in older adults. The feasibility and effectiveness of adding sensor-based feedback to physical therapy (PT) in an outpatient PT setting is unknown. We evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of PT intervention combined with a therapist-assisted visual feedback system, ca...
Background
Visual cues can improve gait in Parkinson’s disease (PD), including those experiencing freezing of gait (FOG). However, responses are variable and underpinning mechanisms remain unclear. Visuo-cognitive processing (measured through visual exploration) has been implicated in cue response, but this has not been comprehensively examined.
O...
Objective: To examine the cortical control of gait and balance in HD under single-task (ST) and dual-task (DT) conditions compared to healthy controls using portable functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).
Background: Individuals with Huntington’s disease (HD) have difficulty multitasking while navigating their environment, so that previous...
Objective: To determine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a home-based, technological visuo-cognitive training (TVT) intervention using a mobile application and exercise with stroboscopic glasses compared to standard care in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Background: There is currently no pharmacological treatment for visuo-cognit...
Objective: This study aims to examine OMT in people with PD (PwPD) compared to healthy older adults. Identifying OMT as a PD biomarker could better support clinical assessment, enabling improved provision of care to patients with advanced disease monitoring.
Background: Ocular microtremor (OMT) is a fixational eye movement that cannot be seen with...
Ocular microtremor (OMT) is the smallest of three involuntary fixational micro eye movements, which has led to it being under researched in comparison. The link between OMT and brain function generates a strong rationale for further study as there is potential for its use as a biomarker in populations with neurological injury and disease. This stru...
Visual problems are common in people who have neurological injury or disease, with deficits linked to postural control and gait impairment. Vision therapy could be a useful intervention for visual impairment in various neurological conditions such as stroke, head injury, or Parkinson’s disease. Stroboscopic visual training (SVT) has been shown to i...
Gait speed declines with age and slower walking speeds are associated with poor health outcomes. Understanding why we do not walk faster as we age, despite being able to, has implications for rehabilitation. Changes in regional oxygenated haemoglobin (HbO2) across the frontal lobe were monitored using functional near infrared spectroscopy in 17 you...
Background: Cognitive impairment is a common non-motor feature of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Mobile applications delivering multidomain cognitive rehabilitation offer a potential means of delaying the worsening of cognitive deficits, but evidence for their feasibility of implementation in people with PD is limited.
Aim: This pilot study evaluated th...
Ocular microtremor (OMT) is a fixational eye movement that cannot be seen with the naked eye but is always present, even when the eye appears motionless/still. The link between OMT and brain function generates a strong rationale for investigation as there lies potential for its use as a biomarker in populations of neurological impairments. OMT freq...
Background:
Balance impairments in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) demonstrated mainly in challenging postural tasks, such as increased body oscillation may be attributed to the deficits in the brain structures functionality involved in postural control (e.g., motor cortex, midbrain, and brainstem). Although promising results, the effect of t...
Background
Mobile applications and technology (e.g., stroboscopic glasses) are increasingly being used to deliver combined visual and cognitive (termed visuo-cognitive) training that replaces standard pen and paper-based interventions. These ‘technological visuo-cognitive training’ (TVT) interventions could help address the complex problems associa...
The neural correlates of locomotion impairments observed in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are not fully understood. We investigated whether people with PD present distinct brain electrocortical activity during usual walking and the approach phase of obstacle avoidance when compared to healthy individuals. Fifteen people with PD and fourteen...
Unlabelled:
Although the multifactorial nature of falls in Parkinson's disease (PD) is well described, optimal assessment for the identification of fallers remains unclear. Thus, we aimed to identify clinical and objective gait measures that best discriminate fallers from non-fallers in PD, with suggestions of optimal cutoff scores.
Methods:
Ind...
Advancements in Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have enabled the manufacture of affordable and efficient wearable devices. In sensor-based gait analysis, motion and biofeedback sensor devices are easily attached to different parts of the body. Instrumentation of gait using different sensor technologies enables researchers and clinicians to ca...
Introdução: os comprometimentos do andar em idosos com doença de Parkinson (DP) estão associados à elevada ocorrência de quedas e à redução dos níveis de independência. O objetivo do estudo foi comparar a resposta dos parâmetros do andar em idosos com doença de Parkinson (DP), durante, imediatamente após e até uma hora após o término de uma sessão...
We tested the feasibility of one session of treadmill training using a novel physical therapist assisted system (Mobility Rehab) using wearable sensors on the upper and lower limbs of 10 people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Participants performed a 2-min walk overground before and after 15 min of treadmill training with Mobility Rehab, which inclu...
Background
Although much is known about the multifactorial nature of falls in Parkinson's disease (PD), optimal classification of fallers remains unclear.
Objective
To identify clinical (demographic, motor, cognitive and patient-reported) and objective mobility (balance and gait) measures that best discriminate fallers from non-fallers in PD.
Met...
Various cueing strategies (internal and external) have been used to alleviate gait deficits in Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, it remains unclear which type of cueing strategy is most effective at different disease stages or with more severe walking impairment, such as freezing of gait (FOG). The underlying neural mechanisms of response to cuein...
Visual and cognitive dysfunction are common in Parkinson’s disease and relate to balance and gait impairment, as well as increased falls risk and reduced quality of life. Vision and cognition are interrelated (termed visuo-cognition) which makes intervention complex in people with Parkinson’s (PwP). Non-pharmacological interventions for visuo-cogni...
Introduction: Following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), patients are often advised to restrict physical activity until full symptom resolution followed by gradual return to activity. However, extended rest periods may prolong recovery and contribute to persistent symptoms. Emerging evidence suggests early active rehabilitation that increases he...
Objective:
To examine the neural activity during turning in Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Background:
Turning is impaired in PD with links to freezing of gait (FOG) and falls risk. Specifically, turning is slow
and elicits FOG episodes in PD, which can be worsened by performing a secondary task when turning
(i.e., dual-tasking). The neural mechanism...
Objective: To explore experiences of people with Parkinson’s (PwP) in using technology as part of a home-based visuo-cognitive training programme compared to traditional approaches to rehabilitation.
Background: Visual and cognitive dysfunction are common in PwP, and relate to mobility impairment and increased falls risk. Novel technologies and mo...
Postural instability is common in neurological diseases. Although transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) seems to be a promising complementary therapy, emerging evidence indicates mixed results and protocols' characteristics. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis, on PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science, to synthesize key...
Turning is a common impairment of mobility in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD), which increases freezing of gait (FoG) episodes and has implications for falls risk. Visual cues have been shown to improve general gait characteristics in PD. However, the effects of visual cues on turning deficits in PD remains unclear. We aimed to (i) compare the...
Background and Aim
Individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) with and without freezing of Gait (FoG) may respond differently to exercise interventions for several reasons, including disease duration. This study aimed to determine whether both people with and without FoG benefit from the Agility Boot Camp with Cognitive Challenges (ABC-C) program....
Background and aim: The study of the neural underpinnings of movement in neurological conditions has
traditionally been conducted with associative studies that have used static imaging techniques, such as
functional magnetic resonance imaging or positron emission tomography. Previous work correlated
movement outcomes with imaging or assessed ass...
Introduction:
Gait impairment occurs across the spectrum of traumatic brain injury (TBI); from mild (mTBI) to moderate (modTBI), to severe (sevTBI). Recent evidence suggests that objective gait assessment may be a surrogate marker for neurological impairment such as TBI. However, the most optimal method of objective gait assessment is still not we...
Visual information is crucial for safe locomotion because it allows individuals to adjust their stepping patterns to deal with environmental demands. Deficits in the ability to visually sample the environment expose walkers to an increased risk of falling, which have motivated researchers to investigate the visual control of locomotion. Portable ey...
Introduction
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improves postural response to perturbation in patients with Parkinson's disease (PwPD). However, the influence of baseline characteristics such as clinical/cognitive and postural performance on the response to tDCS remains unclear.
Objective
To investigate whether baseline level of postur...
Introduction: Mobility impairments are among the main causes of falls in older adults and patients with neurological diseases, leading to functional dependence and substantial health care costs. Feedback-based interventions applied in controlled, laboratory environments have shown promising results for mobility rehabilitation, enhancing the benefit...
Age-related changes may affect the performance during fast walking speed. Although, several studies have been focused on the contribution of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during challenging walking tasks, the neural mechanism underling fast walking speed in older people remain poorly understood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the...
Background:
Since people with Parkinson disease (PD) rely on limited prefrontal executive resources for the control of gait, interventions targeting the prefrontal cortex (PFC) may help in managing PD-related gait impairments. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can be used to modulate PFC excitability and improve prefrontal cognitive f...
Background
Dopaminergic medication improves gait in people with Parkinson disease (PD). However, it remains unclear if dopaminergic medication modulates cortical activity while walking.
Objective
We investigated the effects of dopaminergic medication on cortical activity during unobstructed walking and obstacle avoidance in people with PD.
Method...
Introduction
Cholinergic dysfunction contributes to mobility deficits in Parkinson’s disease (PD). People with PD rely on limited prefrontal executive-attentional resources for the control of locomotion, including turning. Cortical and behavioral responses to cholinergic augmentation during turning remains unclear. We examined prefrontal cortex (PF...
Falls are associated with impairment in postural control in people with Parkinson's disease (PwPD). We aimed to predict the fall risk through models combining postural responses with clinical and cognitive measures. Also, we compared the center of pressure (CoP) between PwPD fallers and non-fallers after unpredictable external perturbations. We exp...
Background:
There is a lack of recommendations for selecting the most appropriate gait measures of Parkinson's disease (PD)-specific dual-task costs to use in clinical practice and research.
Objective:
We aimed to identify measures of dual-task costs of gait and turning that best discriminate performance in people with PD from healthy individual...
Background
Walking abnormalities in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are characterized by a shift in locomotor control from healthy automaticity to compensatory prefrontal executive control. Indirect measures of automaticity of walking (eg, step-to-step variability and dual-task cost) suggest that freezing of gait (FoG) may be associated with r...
Background:
Habituation of postural response to perturbations is impaired in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) due to deficits in cortico-basal pathways. Although transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) modulate cortico-basal networks, it remains unclear if it can benefit postural control in PD.
Objective:
To analyze the effect of diff...
Background: Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is increasingly used in the field of posture and gait to investigate patterns of cortical brain activation while people move freely. fNIRS methods, analysis and reporting of data vary greatly across studies which in turn can limit the replication of research, interpretation of findings and c...
Objective: To investigate the influence of freezing of gait (FoG) on automaticity of walking in people with Parkinson's disease (PD).
Background: A hallmark of healthy walking is automaticity, defined as the ability of the nervous system to successfully control movement with minimal use of executive‐attentional resources. It has been proposed that...
Background
Declines in gait parameters are common with aging and more pronounced in tasks with increased executive demand. However, the neural correlates of age-related gait impairments are not fully understood yet.
Objectives
To investigate ( a) the effects of aging on prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity and gait parameters during usual walking, obs...
Parkinson's disease (PD) is often classified into tremor dominant (TD) and postural instability gait disorder (PIGD) subtypes. Degeneration of subcortical/cortical pathways is different between PD subtypes, which leads to differences in motor behaviour. However, the influence of PD subtype on cortical activity during walking remains poorly understo...
Currently, there are major EU-based projects to better utilise wearables as useful diagnostic aids/tools in clinical settings as well for deployment in the home to capture ageing processes. To date, there has been little investigation of the translation of those tools beyond the geographical regions in which they were developed and implemented. Our...
Background:
Pharmacologic therapy is the primary treatment used to manage Parkinson's disease (PD) symptoms. However, it becomes less effective with time and some symptoms do not respond to medication. Complementary interventions are therefore required for PD. Recent studies have implemented transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in combin...
Background. Although dopaminergic medication improves dual task walking in people with Parkinson disease (PD), the underlying neural mechanisms are not yet fully understood. As prefrontal cognitive resources are involved in dual task walking, evaluation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is required. Objective. To investigate the effect of dopaminergic...
Technology is advancing at an extraordinary rate. Continuous flows of novel data are being generated with the potential to revolutionize how we better identify, treat, manage, and prevent disease across therapeutic areas. However, lack of security of confidence in digital health technologies is hampering adoption, particularly for biometric monitor...
Currently, there are major EU-based projects to better utilise wearables as useful diagnostic aids/tools in clinical settings as well for deployment in the home to capture ageing processes. To date, there has been little investigation of the translation of those tools beyond the geographical regions in which they were developed and implemented. Our...
Gait asymmetry during unobstructed walking in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been well documented. However, under complex situations, such as environments with double obstacles, gait asymmetry remains poorly understood in PD. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze inter-limb asymmetry while crossing a single obstacle and double o...
UNSTRUCTURED
Technology is advancing at extraordinary rates with novel data being generated which could potentially revolutionary different therapeutic areas of medicine. However, adoption is medicine is hampered by a lack of trust, particularly for biometric monitoring technologies (BioMeTs) where a key question facing frontline healthcare profess...
INTRODUCTION:
Postural instability during walking and tripping over obstacles are the main causes of falls in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Preliminary limited evidence suggests that the length of the prospective follow-up period affects falls prediction in PD, with shorter periods leading to more accurate prediction. Thus, the primary aim...
Aim:
The aim of the present study was to analyze the association of depressive and anxiety symptoms with usual walking and obstacle avoidance in patients with Parkinson's disease.
Methods:
Patients were divided into three groups: without depressive and anxiety symptoms (n = 28); depressive symptoms only (n = 15); and depressive and anxiety sympt...
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Walking speed has been described as the "sixth vital sign" as it is reflective of overall health status and physical function [1]. Walking speed reduces with age [2] and is predictive of life expectancy and mortality [2, 3]. Fast walking is considered to reflect maximal capacity and may be more useful than preferred gait speed w...
Different clinical subtypes of Parkinson’s disease (PD) have long been recognized. Recent studies have focused on two PD subtypes: Postural Instability and Gait Difficulty (PIGD) and Tremor Dominant (TD). PIGD patients have greater difficulties in postural control in relation to TD. However, knowledge about the differences in reactive adjustment me...
Postural control asymmetry is an important aspect of Parkinson’s disease (PD) that may be associated with falls. The aim of this study was to compare the postural control asymmetry during postural tasks between fallers and non-fallers in people with PD and neurological healthy age-matched controls (CG). Individuals with idiopathic PD (n = 24) and C...
Eye-tracking devices have become widely used as clinical assessment tools in a variety of
applied-scientific fields to measure saccadic eye movements. With the emergence of multiple static and dynamic devices, the concurrent need for algorithm development and validation is paramount. This review assesses the prevalence of current saccade detection...
This study investigated the effects of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) on the perceptive
judgment of stair step height using both exteroceptive visual and exproprioceptive
judgments. We invited 14 individuals with PD and 14 neurologically healthy older
adults (OA) to perform perceptual judgment tasks for first step stairway heights
of 11 and 20 cm. Initia...
Performance of several tasks simultaneously (dual-tasks) is common in everyday walking. Studies indicate that dual-task walking performance declines with age together with cognitive function, but neural mechanisms underpinning deficits remain unclear. Recent developments in mobile imaging techniques, such as functional near infrared spectroscopy (f...
Background: Cholinergic networks, from the pedunculopontine nucleus in the
brainstem and the subcortical nucleus basalis of Meynert, influence postural control, gait and cognition [1]. Most activities involve dual tasks (DTs), such as walking and talking. Optimal DT performance requires both networks to be functional. However, in Parkinson’s diseas...
Background:
Aging is associated with declining mobility, which negatively affects quality of life and incurs substantial economic costs. Techniques to maintain safe mobility in older adults are therefore essential. Rhythmic auditory cueing (RAC) can improve walking patterns in older adults. However, the neural correlates associated with RAC, how t...
People with Parkinson's disease (PD) have decreased arm swing movements during walking, which can be related to PD motor signs and symptoms. In this context, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of an increased arm swing frequency or amplitude on the gait parameters in people with PD and healthy older adults. Seventeen individuals wit...