Aim: The present study aims to elucidate the degree to which objective modalities of balance and gait assessment, including kinetic and kinematic analyses, correlate with the functional rating scales routinely employed in clinical practice for the evaluation of patients with PD.

Methods: The present study constitutes a narrative critical review of the literature and does not adhere to a formal PRISMA protocol. Electronic searches were conducted in the PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar databases using the keywords “Parkinson’s disease”, “balance”, “gait”, “motion analysis”, “force platform”, “Vicon system” and “functional assessments”. Articles published between 2015 and 2025 were considered eligible, provided that they focused on high-precision methods, such as kinetic and kinematic evaluations of postural control and gait in patients with PD, as well as studies that examined the quantitative associations of these measures with functional scales (mini-BESTest, BBS, FGA).

Results: A moderate correlation was observed between kinetic and kinematic parameters and the BBS (r = -0.55), while kinematic parameters recorded via inertial measurement units (IMU’s) also demonstrated moderate correlations with the UPDRS (r = – 0.5). Furthermore, the FGA demonstrated a strong correlation with gait speed (r = 0.77) and a moderate correlation with step length (r = 0.54 – 0.59), while an FGA score of ≤ 18 predicted falls within a six-month period (ICC= 0.81).

Conclusions: The integrative application of objective metrics and clinical assessment tools affords a multidimensional and more precise characterization of functional capacity in patients with PD. In early stages (H&Y 1-2), IMU’s and force platforms detect subtle deviations, whereas in intermediate and advanced stages, the combined deployment of mini-BESTest/FGA alongside objective measurements is recommended for the timely prevention of falls.