Balance Recovery Training for Fall Prevention in Retirement Communities

Texas A&M University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Accidental Falls, Aged, Exercise Movement Techniques

Treatments: Other: Balance recovery training; Other: Tai Chi exercise

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02551666

TexasAMU

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Enrollment: 35 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 70+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• 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

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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35 participants in 2 patient groups

Tai Chi exercise intervention

Active Comparator group

Description:

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

Treatment:

Other: Tai Chi exercise

Balance recovery training

Experimental group

Description:

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

Treatment:

Other: Balance recovery training