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Visual Training Program to Improve Balance and Prevent Falls in Older Adults

NCT00549406 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: PHASE1 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 33

Last updated 2014-12-23

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The ability to maintain balance and avoid falling is highly dependent on the ability to locate objects and architectural features in the environment. This need to continually monitor the environment as one moves about in daily life suggests a critical role for visual attention, gaze control, and spatial memory, all of which are known to decline with aging. In this study, the investigators will test the efficacy of a computer-based visual-training program designed to improve the ability to rapidly extract information from the peripheral visual field. It is expected that older adults involved in the visual training intervention will improve the speed, accuracy, and effectiveness of reach-to-grasp balance-recovery reactions evoked by sudden unpredictable balance perturbation.

Conditions

  • Accidental Falls
  • Musculoskeletal Equilibrium

Interventions

PROCEDURE

computerized visual training

two one-hour training sessions per week, for five consecutive weeks

PROCEDURE

computerized word puzzles

two one-hour sessions per week, for five consecutive weeks

PROCEDURE

video-game based visual training

two one-hour training sessions per week, for five consecutive weeks

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation

    collaborator OTHER

  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

    collaborator OTHER_GOV

  • Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Brian E Maki, PhD, PEng · Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto

  • Sandra M McKay, PhD · Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
64 Years
Max Age
80 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2008-06-30
Primary Completion
2011-07-31
Completion
2012-02-29

Countries

  • Canada

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT00549406 on ClinicalTrials.gov