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The Effect of Training on Brain Activity During Postural Tasks in Older Adults

NCT04594148 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 43

Last updated 2022-10-19

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Older people show deficits in dynamic weight-shifting, as the investigators found that more time is needed to perform weight-shifts and the movements became less fluent and accurate in older versus younger adults. Deficits with weight-shifting in the mediolateral (left-right) direction have been linked to balance and falls in ageing. Balance control can be improved with training. Virtual reality (VR) based training programs for improving balance are gaining ground, as it can provide both fun and challenging balance tasks, enhancing motivation. The investigators demonstrated earlier that older adults show an overloaded neural activation pattern compared to young adults when performing the same VR-based mediolateral weight-shifting task (wasp game). What is yet unclear, is whether improved balance capacity can be gained with training and whether such an intervention impacts the underlying neural mechanisms. Using a combination of behavioral assessments and functional Near-Infrared Spectrocopy (fNIRS), the primary aim of this study is to investigate the effects of a VR-based weight-shift training and its underlying neural imprint in older adults. Furthermore, as a previous study done by the investigators also showed that adding an extra cognitive task in a so-called dual-task (DT) negatively affects weight-shifting performance, a secondary aim will be to test whether weight-shift training will enhance performance during such DT conditions. The results of this study may contribute to the future design of technology-based rehabilitation programs.

Conditions

  • Healthy Aging

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Weight-shift training

Weight-shift training will consist of a single session of 10x 2.5min of mediolateral weight-shifting in the VR Wasp Game. Including breaks, the session will approximately take 45min.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • KU Leuven

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Alice Nieuwboer, PhD · KU Leuven

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2021-02-08
Primary Completion
2021-06-16
Completion
2021-06-16

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 NCT04594148 on ClinicalTrials.gov