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Standing Balance Control Across the Lifespan

NCT04050774 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 41

Last updated 2022-08-03

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Falls are the leading cause of nonfatal injuries in children and elderly. To understand the causes of falling in these populations, fundamental knowledge of how ageing affects balance control is of utmost importance.

In general, two biomechanical mechanisms allow people to control balance; 1.moving the center of pressure within the base of support using ankle muscle activation; 2.counter-rotating segments around the center of mass. To understand how balance is controlled differently across the lifespan, 4 age groups (each N=20) will be compared to each other; i.e. prepubertal children (6-9y), postpubertal children (15-17y), young adults (18-24y), healthy non-falling older adults (65-80y). .

A force plate platform combined with 3D movement registration will be used to determine the biomechanical balance control strategy across the lifespan during unperturbed and perturbed standing. The innovative but focused scope of this study could provide a breakthrough in our biomechanical understanding of balance control and, in particular, the changes in limitations of balance control in childhood and an ageing (fall-prone) population. The gained fundamental knowledge could lead to unprecedented insights in the causes of falling across the lifespan and in possible targets for intervention.

Conditions

  • Children, Adult

Interventions

DEVICE

Balance boards

The unstable surface will be created with a balance board consisting of a wooden board mounted on a section of a cylinder, creating an unstable support in the sagittal plane or in the frontal plane. The participants will stand on three balance boards, varying the height of the surface of the board above the point of contact (15, 17 and 19 cm respectively). The radius of the cylinder will kept constant at 24 cm. The standing surface will be 48cm x 48 cm

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • VU University of Amsterdam

    collaborator OTHER

  • Hasselt University

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

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

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2018-11-21
Primary Completion
2021-04-01
Completion
2021-04-01

Countries

  • Belgium

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 NCT04050774 on ClinicalTrials.gov