New research reveals that rapid horizontal eye movements, or saccadic movements, can significantly improve balance and reduce body sway in people with Parkinson’s disease, offering hope for better mobility and fall prevention.
A new study has revealed that rapid side-to-side eye movements can help people with Parkinson’s disease maintain balance, avoid falls and stabilize their posture. Researchers from São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil and the University of Lille in France, backed by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), found that horizontal saccadic eye movements significantly reduced body sway in both Parkinson’s patients and neurologically healthy individuals.
This study “furnishes new knowledge of the disease, and of its motor and cognitive consequences,” first author Fabio Barbieri, the head of UNESP’s Human Movement Research Laboratory (MOVI-LAB), said in a news release.
The study, published in the journal Biomechanics, included 10 individuals with Parkinson’s and 11 neurologically healthy participants, all over the age of 60.
The participants were asked to stand still and maintain balance in different postural stances while performing horizontal or vertical saccadic eye movements. While vertical eye movements increased body sway in individuals with Parkinson’s, horizontal movements achieved the opposite effect, enhancing stability for both groups.
When the researchers initiated this study, they were skeptical about the potential benefits of eye movements for Parkinson’s patients.
“Individuals with this disease have a postural deficit that impairs stability and sway control. They also have difficulty controlling their eye movements,” Barbieri added.
Parkinson’s patients often struggle with slow blinking and gathering environmental information through sight.
According to last author Sérgio Tosi Rodrigues, a professor at UNESP and head of its Department of Physical Education’s Laboratory of Information, Vision and Action, vertical eye movements might be more difficult for older adults in general due to the lower degree of eye rotation required. This complexity hinders the integration between visual and postural systems.
“For young adults, vertical saccadic eye movements are beneficial, but for older adults they don’t reduce body sway,” Rodrigues said in the press release.
The findings are significant as they open the door to potential new forms of non-invasive therapy for Parkinson’s patients. As Rodrigues emphasized, aging naturally deteriorates motor control and visual perception, making older individuals more susceptible to falls. Thus, the ability to harness horizontal saccadic eye movements for improved balance offers a promising avenue for future research and practical applications.