After recording gait and muscle activity



	Professor Graham Kerr	Principal Supervisor

	Associate Professor Marcus Meinzer
		Associate Supervisor
	School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Faculty of Health Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) Queensland University of Technology (QUT)

You should not be pregnant, have uncontrolled blood pressure (hypotension or hypertension), any musculoskeletal disorders, functional limitations associated with osteoporosis, or have had orthopaedic surgery within the last 12 months. You should also not have had brain surgery, have no metal implants in your head, have no history of epilepsy, migraines or neural trauma and should not be taking any psychoactive medications.

The research will be conducted at IHBI, 60 Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove. Participation will involve four visits; one visit will be for clinical assessment and three visits will be for the intervention and gait assessment. Photos and videos will be recorded during assessment and intervention sessions. Videos will be used for further movement evaluation. Both photos and videos may be used for presentations but in these instances, faces will be blurred to preserve anonymity.

You will then undertake three further assessments:

•Disease severity assessment will be used to determine the severity and progression of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Visit 2-4 (60 minutes, each visit): gait and muscle activity recording and intervention

Figure 1

At the same time, muscle activity will be examined using surface Electromyography which requires electrodes to be placed over your leg muscles. This may require some hair to be shaved from the skin over your leg muscles (a circle with 2 cm diameter) using single-use disposal safety razor and to be cleaned with alcohol-based wipes.

Figure 3

In each session, immediately after applying tDCS, gait and muscle activity recordings will be repeated.


Th•	There are minimal risks associated with your participation in this project. These include: Feeling a mild tingling or itchy sensation under the tDCS electrodes.



•	Fatigue during assessments.

All comments and responses will be treated confidentially unless required by law. The names of individual persons are not required in any of the responses. Any data collected as part of this project will be stored securely as per QUT’s Management of research data policy.

The project is funded by faculty of Health, QUT and they will not have access to the data obtained during the project.

QUT is committed to research integrity and the ethical conduct of research projects. However, if you do have any concerns or complaints about the ethical conduct of the project you may contact the QUT Research Ethics Advisory Team on 07 3138 5123 or email The QUT Research Ethics Advisory Team is not connected with the research resolution to your concern in an impartial manner.




The demographic and health questionnaire consists of questions relating to your background details, physical activity, mood, mobility, balance, gait and falls, vision, health and medications.
2.
i)		Cognitive function assessment: Addenbroock’s cognitive examination-ACE-R is a

ii)		Visual function tests:These tests will assess your visual functioning using standard

iii)		Disease severity assessment: Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease

iv)		Lower Limb Sensation: These tests involve a touch sensitivity task which will be
performed with your eyes closed. For the touch sensitivity test, plastic fibres of different thicknesses will be pressed against your ball of foot, ankle, toe and heel. Loss of sensation from the legs and feet is not only a common finding with increasing age, but has an association with falls risk because of the central role that sensory feedback from our skin plays in balance control. This test is non-invasive and you will be seated throughout these tests.
v)		Clinical Balance and Mobility Tests: The Tinetti test will also be used to assess your
balance and mobility.


	Muscle Activity Assessment (electromyography or EMG):
The EMG measures the activity of the active muscle. Muscle activity of a number of leg muscles will be monitored via electrodes placed on skin’s surface. This may require some hair to be shaved from these sites and cleaned with an alcohol wipe. You will be asked to walk at a self-selected and comfortable pace on a treadmill and over ground while EMG activity is recorded.

following:	Demographic and Health Questionnaires Clinical assessments (cognition, balance, vision and touch sensitivity) Gait Assessment (3D Motion Analysis)

relevant research in future.

A full explanation of the identified procedures is provided.