Walking Tall Panel Review

Background

Walking Tall is a gait re-training app designed to help people with Parkinson’s walk better and for longer by using audio cueing.

Developed at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, the app delivers a rhythmic metronomic beat for three different walking speeds, slow, normal and fast. This triggers movement and encourages better walking patterns.

A team led by biomedical engineer and neuroscientist Dr Matthew Brodie developed the Walking Tall app following a clinical trialopens in new tab funded by Shake It Up Australia Foundationopens in new tab and the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Researchopens in new tab. 

“With the metronome beat of the app, the aim is to replace the need to think about walking and help with the timing of their steps,” said Dr Brodie.

Following the trial, Dr Brodie set up Walking Tall Health, making the app available to anyone. Walking Tall was released in August 2023 and has been downloaded thousands of times and translated into multiple languages. 

Walking Tall Health’s chief science officer, Dr Martin Ostrowski, lives with Parkinson’s and has been using the app himself.

“We have seen that using this app for just a few minutes every day to retrain gait can make a big difference,” said Dr Ostrowski.

The Walking Tall Health team are also developing a non-invasive stimulation device to improve walking ability.

First impressions

Once downloaded, the Walking Tall app is ready to use straight away. You’re not required to create an account or enter any personal information. 

Everyone in the review panel was very satisfied with how quickly they could get started, describing the app as “clear” and “simple”.

One reviewer told the Tech Guide: “The app is very basic, in a good way! There is nothing complicated to understand. Once installed there is little to set up.”

On the home screen of the app, an ‘info’ button at the top of the screen takes you to a comprehensive description of the app and instructions on how to use it.

A 63-year-old reviewer, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s 2 years ago, told the Tech Guide: “It has very clear instructions. The information button covers most of the frequently asked questions.”

There is also a ‘help’ button which directs you to a video that plays within the app and shows you how to use the app, for those who find visual instructions more helpful.

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The Walking Tall app

A 59-year-old reviewer said: “The supporting video made it easy to follow the instructions and execution of the app.”

All the reviewers were also very pleased that the size of the text and buttons were “very easy” to read.

One reviewer said they liked the font style and colour scheme. They also said “the layout was clear and uncluttered.”

Another reviewer agreed: “Very easy to read. Clear, large wording in the app.”

Daily use

Before you start your walking training, you need to set your session time and how fast you want to walk using the sliding buttons on the home screen. Session length can range from 6 minutes to 1 hour, with the default set at 12 minutes. The pace is set by beats per minute (bpm) and you slide from 60 bpm to 120 bpm.

Press the ‘play’ button to start your training. When the session starts, you need to try and walk in time with the metronome beat you set.

Walking

Each walking session comprises five walks in a set pattern: normal, slow, normal, fast, normal, with rests in between. You can pause the session at any time if you need a break outside of the rest slots.

A reviewer commented on the pace pattern. “I used the app when I went for a walk outdoors. I found the ‘normal’ and ‘fast’ particularly useful for setting the tone when placing my nordic poles.

“The pace for ‘slow’ was too slow for me and I felt I wobbled.” 

The reviewer suggested that an improvement feature would be the ability to select the paces in the session. “In my case, I would not select ‘slow’.”

You can use the app everyday for as many sessions as you like but the Walking Tall team recommend at least 3 days a week.

A 59-year-old reviewer said: “I set time aside and the exercises were fairly quick.”

This reviewer did get slightly frustrated when they realised that they could not restart their whole session if they wanted to adjust their time or pace.

They said: “There were two things that made it difficult to use. The first is that you can’t alter the time or pace once you’ve started the session meaning it is often hard to get the rhythm right at the beginning. The second is that once you start the session, if you select the ‘pause’ button, you can’t restart the whole session, instead you are directly taken to the next step in the overall session. This is really annoying.” They also said they didn’t notice much improvement.

However, the other four reviewers all saw some benefit and improvement. One said: “It has encouraged me to do some focused walking every few days. It is very basic but it could certainly help people with walking.” 

Another reviewer added: “The app made me think about how I was walking and gave me a tool to try and improve. It has made me more aware of my walking styles and posture.” 

“I enjoyed using the app and feel a little fitter,” commented a reviewer whose main Parkinson’s concerns are their walking issues and rigidity. “I walk around in a more upright posture and feel I can walk better.” 

During the walking training session, the app plays ‘green noise’ sound effects, including forest bird calls and leaves rustling, quietly in the background. Green noise is a mid-frequency, nature-based sound used to mask distractions and promote relaxation.

All the reviewers said it was easy to integrate the app into their daily lives. 

“It is simple to set up and use, and it is reliable,” said a reviewer.

One reviewer used the app indoors using a speaker. “I found that it was useful to play it through my smart speaker so that I didn’t have to carry the phone on my person.” 

Motivation

Alongside the instructions and green noise playing in the background, the instructor shares occasional words of encouragement. Examples include: “Keep on pushing, you’re almost there” and “Focus on walking tall, chest out and step in time to the beat.”

Complete at least three sessions a week and you can earn a gold trophy award. 

One reviewer was not keen on the messages or the award system. “For me neither of them were particularly motivational. After a few days, the encouragement became a bit more like background noise rather than an interactive part of the routine. The gold cup was a little too twee for me.” 

On the other hand, a reviewer who used to be an avid runner found the messages of encouragement very helpful.

They said: “I used to run lots but can no longer do that because of my Parkinson’s. Walking is now quite limited too which means I can no longer climb hills, a major hobby of mine.

“I liked the positive encouragement when walking. I felt it helped with motivation.”

Value

All the reviewers were either “likely” or “very likely” to recommend Walking Tall to others with gait issues.

And they all thought the free app was good value. A 71-year-old reviewer said: “It’s worth giving anything a go, especially if it’s free.”

Another reviewer agreed, adding: “I’m very satisfied. It’s free and useful.” 

A reviewer whose balance and gait has affected their ballroom dancing hobby said: “I would give it 10/10. It’s very useful for people with walking issues.”