Effects of Training on Fall Risk and Balance Performances

Medipol Health Group

Status: Completed

Conditions: Accidental Falls

Treatments: Behavioral: exercise-cognitive activity combined training; Behavioral: dual task training; Behavioral: Single task training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03189342

E.4629

Details and patient eligibility

About

Dual task training has been shown to reduce the risk of falls more than single task training. However, there have been no studies which compared the effects of single task training, dual task training and asynchronous cognitive, balance exercise training during same day on the risk of falls among healthy older individuals. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate differences among the effects of single task training, dual task training and exercise-cognitive activity combined training on balance and gait performances and fall risk in elderly at risk of fall.

Full description

The term "dual task" refers to the ability of performing 2 tasks simultaneously, for example, a cognitive and a motor task. Previous studies demonstrated that dual task training is more effective than single task training in reducing falls among elderly. These studies demonstrated that the improvements in balance and gait speed resulted in a decrease of fall frequency. Although dual task training has been shown to reduce the risk of falls more than single task training, to date, there have been no studies which compared the effects of single task training, dual task training and asynchronous cognitive, balance exercise training during same day on the risk of falls among healthy older individuals. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate differences among the effects of single task training, dual task training and exercise-cognitive activity combined training on balance and gait performances and fall risk in elderly at risk of fall.

Enrollment: 45 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 65 to 83 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age 65 years or older
• literate
• having a fall incident during the past year
• ability to walk 10 meter without any support
• getting more than 13.5 seconds at Timed up and Go test
• getting less than 24 points at Standardized Mini-Mental State Examination

Exclusion criteria

• neurological or musculoskeletal diagnosis such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease,
• orthopaedic involvement or significant visual and auditory impairments

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

45 participants in 3 patient groups

Single Task Training

Experimental group

Description:

Performed balance and gait exercises

Treatment:

Behavioral: Single task training

Dual task training

Experimental group

Description:

Performed cognitive activity simultaneously with balance and gait exercises

Treatment:

Behavioral: dual task training

Exercise-Cognitive Activity Combined Training

Experimental group

Description:

Performed cognitive, balance and gait activity training asynchronously at different times during the same day

Treatment:

Behavioral: exercise-cognitive activity combined training