The Impact of Cognitive Task on Gait Characteristics of Patientwith Multiple Sclerosis

Objectives: multiple sclerosis forms chronic disabilities such as cognitive dysfunctions and gait disorders. this study carried out to examine the effects of a cognitive task on gait characteristics of patients with ms. methods: a quasi- experimental method was conducted that including 25 participants with ms (age from 20 to 50) were selected by convenient method of sampling based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. they participated in two trails. gait was tested in participants along with both walking alone and walking while backward counting from 50. walking time in seconds, number of steps, frequency of lateral line stepping- over, and stops were recorded. results: time of walking and number of steps increased significantly under dual task condition (p- value < 0/01), whereas number of lateral line stepping- over and numbers of stops were not associated with counting backward (p- value > 0/05). conclusions: among the studied sample of patient with multiple sclerosis the cognitive task impacted on some gait characteristics. the finding of this study suggests that the choice of the attention-splitting task in dual-task gait assessment among patient with ms must be made carefully, and effect of dual task training on gait characteristics must be investigated.