Gait Training For Reducing Risk Of Fall in the Elderly

Umm Al-Qura University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Fall

Treatments: Device: The C-Mill virtual reality treadmill; Other: Conventional Physical Therapy Program

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05613374

22UQU4280521DSR01

Details and patient eligibility

About

Falling is considered one of the major problems that may affect the elderly, which may lead to bad consequences. Safe walking needs the older adult to anticipate and respond quickly to external demands and sudden environmental changes.Many studies have shown that treadmill training is effective in improving the elderly person's ability to walk and avoid falls. The C-Mill treadmill is an innovative device that recently used for the training of impaired gait and balance.Therefore, this study will aim to evaluate the efficacy of gait training with a virtual reality treadmill on the risk of fall in the elderly.

Full description

Fall injuries produce serious threats to elderly people. Fall hazards are many, they include physical, psychological, social, and economic consequences. Many studies have shown that walking and balance exercises effectively contribute to enhancing walking performance, improving obstacle avoidance, and reducing the incidence of falls in the elderly. Therefore, the practice of complex and challenging situations of the usual daily walking is very important to prevent falls. Many studies have shown that treadmill training is effective in improving the elderly person's ability to walk and avoid falls. The C-Mill treadmill is recently used for the training of impaired gait and balance. C-Mill applies a virtual reality environment, obstacle avoidance games, and a variety of balance challenges in a safe and controlled environment to increase walking adaptability and improve performance in everyday life.Fall injuries produce serious consequences. The management of these injuries is costly and has a negative impact on healthcare entities. Therefore, prevention programs for preventing and reducing falls among the elderly are very important for reducing these serious consequences. Therefore, this study will compare the efficacy of gait training with a virtual reality treadmill and the conventional physical therapy training program on the risk of fall in the elderly.

Enrollment: 60 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 60 to 70 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

60 healthy older adults, both sexes, will participate in this study. Their ages will be between 60 to 70 years. They should have stable medical status based on a confirmed written medical report signed by their physicians. All participants should not receive other training to improve their balance and gait during the duration of the study application except through this study training program.

Exclusion criteria

The exclusion criteria will include any participant with:

• a cognitive reduction (< 23 points based on the Mini-Mental State Examination scale;
• muscle paralysis,
• fixed lower limb bony deformities,
• balance deficits,
• visual problems,
• diabetes mellitus,
• polyneuropathy,
• gait disorders,
• using assistive walking devices during walking,
• vertigo, anti-seizures drug use and hypertension,
• vestibular and cerebellar problems; and
• auditory and perceptual diseases/impairments

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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60 participants in 2 patient groups

Control Group

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants in the control group will receive conventional functional training (conventional physical therapy program) for one hour as the following. * Part (1) Postural reactions exercises. (for 30 minutes) * Rest for 15 minutes between the first part and the second part. * Part (2) Indoor open environment gait training exercises (over-ground gait training exercises.). (for 30 minutes)

Treatment:

Other: Conventional Physical Therapy Program

Experimental Group

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in the experimental group will receive a treatment program that is comprised of two parts. The first part included training, for (30 minutes), on The C-Mill virtual reality treadmill. The C-Mill is an instrumented treadmill with interactive virtual reality games and applications. The C-Mill applies an augmented virtual reality environment, obstacle avoidance games, and a variety of balance challenges in a safe and controlled environment to increase walking adaptability and performance in everyday life. There will be 15 minutes rest between parts one and two of the training program The second part (conventional training program) (30 minutes) will include: * Postural reactions exercises. ( 20 minutes) * Indoor open environment gait training exercises (over-ground gait training exercises.). (10 minutes)

Treatment:

Device: The C-Mill virtual reality treadmill