The Effect of Backward Walking Training in the Elderly

Summary

Foot problems are among the most common reasons for elderly individuals to apply to health care centers. With aging, changes occur in the appearance, biomechanics, posture and function of the foot. These changes cause deterioration in balance, increase in the risk of falling, fracture formation, limitation in mobility and activities. In recent years, backward walking seems to have become a popular treatment in rehabilitation. The walking cycle, which we start with a heel strike in our normal forward walking, starts with finger contact while walking backwards. It has been stated that this situation affects the entire plantar pressure distribution and provides a more equal distribution of plantar pressure. Therefore, gait modifications seem to affect foot biomechanics. It is not yet known how backward walking training affects foot biomechanics, balance and kinesiophobia in elderly individuals. By improving the ability to walk backwards, it may be possible to improve foot functions, increase mobility function, improve balance ability, and reduce the fear of falling and the incidence of falling. In addition, this training is easy to learn and popular, and has the advantage of being low cost. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of backward walking training on ankle joint position sense, foot posture and functions, lower extremity muscle strength, balance, kinesiophobia status and fall incidence in elderly individuals staying in nursing homes.

Conditions

• Elderly People

Interventions

OTHER

Backward Walking (Exercise group)

The participant will apply a maximum of 40-50 minutes of exercise, including 10 minutes of warm-up exercise, 30 minutes of backward walking training and 10 minutes of cooling-off exercise. The maximum time to do backward walking training will be 30 minutes. In the backward walking exercise, 1 set will take 5 minutes. The maximum number of sets that can be made will be 6 sets. No more than 6 sets will be made.

OTHER

Forward Walking (Control Group)

The participant will apply a maximum of 40-50 minutes of exercise, including 10 minutes of warm-up exercise, 30 minutes of forward walking training and 10 minutes of cooling-off exercise as the home exercise programme.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Ayşe Toraman

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Ayşe T KARAGÜLMEZ · Ankara Yildirim Beyazıt University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

65 Years

Max Age

95 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-02-24

Primary Completion

2024-01-02

Completion

2024-03-29

Countries

• Turkey (Türkiye)

Study Locations