Balance Recovery Training for Fall Prevention in Retirement Communities

NCT02551666 | Completed Results

• 1 other identifier: TexasAMU
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 35
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

Falls are the leading cause of injuries and injury-related deaths among older adults over the age of 65 in the United States. To help reduce the number of these falls, there is growing interest in using reactive balance training to improve the reactive response to common perturbations (e.g., tripping and slipping). The goal of this study was to compare treadmill-based reactive balance training versus Tai Chi performed at, and among residents of, older adult senior housing. We hypothesized that participants randomized to reactive balance training (RBT) would show better performance on reactive balance tests compared to participants randomized to Tai Chi. We also hypothesized that participants randomized to Tai Chi would show better performance on clinical tests of balance and mobility compared to participants randomized to RBT. The long-term goal of this work is to demonstrate the value of RBT over Tai Chi for preventing falls resulting from sudden, external perturbations. Thirty-five residents of five senior housing facilities were allocated to either treadmill-based reactive balance training or Tai Chi training. Both interventions were performed three times per week for four weeks, with each session lasting approximately 30 minutes. A battery of balance tests was performed at baseline, and again one week, one month, three months, and six months post-training. The battery included six standard clinical tests of balance and mobility, and a test of reactive balance performance.

Conditions

Accidental Falls, Aged, Exercise Movement Techniques

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Maximum Torso Angle at 0.8 Mph

  maximum torso angle during a simulated trip, and be measures in degrees. Larger angles indicate worse performance.

  1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after completing four weeks of exercise intervention

• Maximum Torso Angle at 1.6 Mph

  maximum torso angle during a simulated trip, and be measures in degrees. Larger angles indicate worse performance.

  1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after completing four weeks of exercise intervention

Secondary Outcomes (9)

• Reactive Balance Rating

  1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after completing four weeks of exercise intervention

• Step Length at 0.8 Mph

  1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after completing four weeks of exercise intervention

• Timed-up-and-go Test

  1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after completing four weeks of exercise intervention

• Unipedal Stance Time Test

  1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after completing four weeks of exercise intervention

• Maximum Step Length Test

  1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after completing four weeks of exercise intervention

Study Arms (2)

Tai Chi exercise intervention

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will perform 30-minute Tai Chi sessions (Yang Short form) 3 times a week for 4 weeks.

Other: Tai Chi exercise

Balance recovery training

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will practice balance recovery on a modified treadmill for approximately 30-minutes per session, 3 sessions a week for 4 weeks.

Other: Balance recovery training

Interventions

Balance recovery training OTHER

Participants will practice recovering their balance after a perturbation similar to tripping while walking. Each of these 'balance recovery training' sessions will last approximately 30 minutes, and will be performed 3 times per week for 4 weeks.

Balance recovery training

Tai Chi exercise OTHER

Participants will perform Tai Chi exercises (Yang short form) for 30 minutes, 3 times a week for 4 weeks. Each session will be led by an experienced Tai Chi instructor.

Tai Chi exercise intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 70 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Must be age 70 or older
• Must be a resident of local continuing care retirement community (CCRC)
• Must be able to walk down a long hallway without any aids (cane, walker, etc.)
• Must not have a fragility fracture in the past 10 years
• Must not smoke
• Must not be in physical therapy
• Must not perform more than 150 minutes/week of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity
• Must score 24 or higher on Folstein Mini Mental Status Exam
• Must have less than 20% probability of major osteoporotic fracture as assessed by the fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX) score
• Must not have recently (within 1 year) participated in Tai Chi

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Texas A&M University: lead
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University: collaborator
• University of Michigan: collaborator

Related Publications (1)

• Madigan ML, Aviles J, Allin LJ, Nussbaum MA, Alexander NB. A Reactive Balance Rating Method That Correlates With Kinematics After Trip-like Perturbations on a Treadmill and Fall Risk Among Residents of Older Adult Congregate Housing. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2018 Aug 10;73(9):1222-1228. doi: 10.1093/gerona/gly077.

  PMID: 29668910 RESULT

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Aquatic Therapy

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Hydrotherapy; Physical Therapy Modalities; Therapeutics; Rehabilitation

Limitations and Caveats

Sample size was not sufficient to investigate falls as an outcome.

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Professor Michael L. Madigan, PhD
• Organization: Virginia Tech

mlm@vt.edu

540-231-3543

Study Officials

• Michael Madigan, PhD

  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: No
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor, Biomedical Engineering

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 12, 2015
• First Posted: September 16, 2015
• Study Start: September 1, 2015
• Primary Completion: May 1, 2017
• Study Completion: May 1, 2017
• Last Updated: July 14, 2020
• Results First Posted: July 14, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-06

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, ICF
• Time Frame: These data will be made available starting one year after publication.
• Access Criteria: Access will be provided for supplementary analyses. IPD will be shared via email.