Aging and Task-Specific Training to Reduce Falls
University of Illinois at Chicago
Summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the effects of a novel task-specific balance training for reducing environmental falls in community ambulatory older adults who are at-risk of falling. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does task-specific balance training improve the ability to prevent falling when unexpected perturbations such as slips and trips occur, and/or improve balance control during self-initiated movements? * Does task-specific balance training reduce real-life falls for 18 months after training? Researchers will compare task-specific balance training with conventional balance training and treadmill perturbation-based training to examine how this novel intervention compares to established interventions for improving balance. Participants who participate in the study will be asked to do the following: * Complete a pre-training assessment of their balance control, and then be randomized to one of three training groups: 1) task-specific balance training, 2) treadmill perturbation-based training, and 3) conventional balance training * Complete their assigned training protocol for 8 weeks (2x per week for a total of 16 sessions) * Complete 2 post-training assessments of their balance control, the first being completed immediately after the training is completed, and the second being completed 18 months after the training is completed * Wear a physical activity monitor for 18 months after completing the intervention to monitor their real life falls.
Description
The proposed study employs a randomized, controlled design to assess the immediate and long-term effects of task-specific balance training for reducing environmental falls in at-risk community-ambulatory older adults. \>33% of older adults fall at least once each year, leading to serious injuries (e.g., hip fractures), comorbidities (e.g., Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias), and higher chances of falling again. Most falls occur due to environmental disturbances which cause a loss of balance while walking (i.e., slips, trips). Our lab has established that overground perturbation trainin…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 60–90 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * 60 to 90 years of age to include community dwelling older adults * Understand English to ensure ability to safely complete study protocols * Able to walk independently for 1 block and 10 meters without an assistive device to ensure ability to complete exercises and reactive balance assessments * 'At-risk' adults: Participants who report experience of at least 1 fall in the past 12 months or participants who are categorized as at high fall- risk using our fall risk prediction model which can predict the risk of both slip and trip related falls. Exclusion Criteria: * Maj…
Interventions
- BehavioralTask-Specific Balance Training
Participants in the intervention groups will receive 8 weeks of task-specific balance training that includes both functional tasks and predictable perturbations specific to slips and trips. Sessions will be completed 2x per week for 8 weeks (16 sessions total).
- BehavioralTreadmill Perturbation Training
Participants in the treadmill perturbation training group will receive 8 weeks of training that includes exposure to slip-like and trip-like perturbations delivered via motorized treadmill. Sessions will be completed 2x per week for 8 weeks (16 sessions total).
- BehavioralConventional Balance Training
Participants in the conventional balance training group will receive 8 weeks of training that includes conventional exercises designed to improve balance control. Sessions will be completed 2x per week for 8 weeks (16 sessions total).
Location
- University of Illinois at ChicagoChicago, Illinois