The Influence of Manual Therapy Applied to the Cervical Spine in the Prevention of Balance Disorders in the Elderly (ManEq)

EZUS-LYON 1

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Balance, Postural

Elderly

Gait

Treatments

Other: Placebo intervention

Other: Manual therapy

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT05475652

002B2019

Details and patient eligibility

About

Falling is a major trauma that can occur with aging, leading to very significant psychological and physical health effects with financial and societal consequences. It is therefore essential to explore therapeutic treatments that can reduce this risk. Some recognized effective treatments exist, concerning in particular the re-education of the muscles of the lower limbs. However, to our knowledge, none of them focus on the cervical spine although the latter is located at an essential physiological crossroads. Manual therapy, which has already demonstrated its impact on pain and balance parameters in the elderly, could be a painless and non-invasive tool of choice in addressing this problem.

Full description

The main hypothesis of the present study is therefore that manual therapy applied to the cervical spine may have a beneficial impact on the balance and motor performance of seniors. The study also aims to propose an assessment of the physical parameters of balance, in order to validate the contribution of the cervical spine in compensatory mechanisms.

To do so, an interventional study was designed, monocentric, prospective, controlled, randomized double-blind (patient and evaluator performing the measurements). The experiment will take place over three measurement periods on D0, D7 and D21.

Enrollment

40 patients

Sex

All

Ages

65+ years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

65 years of age or older, of either sex
Autonomous, able to walk ten meters alone without walking aid
Able to understand instructions necessary for the correct performance of the measurements.

Exclusion criteria

Patients suffering from a locomotor handicap or severe chronic progressive pathologies preventing the protocol from being carried out correctly
Patient who has an history of surgery - fracture - dislocation of the cervical spine
Patient who has cognitive impairments (Mini Mental Statement <20)
Patient who has life expectancy less than 6 months.