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Training Improves Balance Control

NCT01547988 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 66

Last updated 2012-03-08

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a group-based functional and specific balance training program on balance function in healthy older adults. It is commonly considered difficult to improve balance function in healthy older adults. The program included dual-task exercises; physical training exercises and a cognitive task (e.g. reading or reciting a story) performed simultaneously, as well as perturbation exercises, where balance is challenged in unexpected ways.

The investigators hypothesized that following the proposed training, older adults would improve their speed of taking a step in both single and dual task conditions, refine their ability to control balance when standing still and improve their self-reported physical function.

Conditions

  • Accidental Falls

Interventions

OTHER

Balance Training Intervention

The intervention group participated in a total of 24 one-hour training sessions over a period of 12 weeks. The training program utilized different size balls as a general tool in a series of progressively more difficult exercises targeting sitting, standing, and gait-related balance control. The program included exercises at five different levels of progressively more challenging balance exercises. Levels 1-4 focused on voluntarily controlled balance exercises, whereas level 5 also included perturbation exercises to trigger automatic compensatory stepping responses. All levels included attention-demanding dual task exercises that required subjects to simultaneously perform motor and cognitive activities.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Boston University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Lars IE Oddsson, PhD · NeuroMuscular Research Center, Boston University

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2001-10-31
Primary Completion
2003-02-28
Completion
2003-08-31

Countries

  • United States

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 NCT01547988 on ClinicalTrials.gov