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External Focus Strategy on Visuomotor Control in Older Adults

NCT06571526 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 112

Last updated 2024-08-26

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Only a few studies have adopted external focus strategy as an intervention to mitigate the negative effects of heightened conscious movement processing in older adults. The goal was to investigate whether a single-session intervention (SSI) using external focus strategy could improve gait stability and visual search behaviors during adaptive locomotion among the older population.

Participants were randomly allocated to either an external focus (EXT) or a control group (CON). All participants performed an obstacle circumvention walking task along an 8-m walkway for five trials at pre-intervention (T0), post-intervention (T1), and retention (T2). The training phase included 20 walking trials. EXT focused on digits displayed on monitors at their path destinations, while CON walked naturally without any manipulation.

Conditions

  • Gait
  • Fall Risk
  • Older Adults

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

External focus

The training phase consisted of 20 consecutive training trials, with a rest interval of at least 30 seconds between trials. All participants had to circumvent an obstacle during each trial on the 8-m level-ground walkway. During each trial, the general instruction was to focus on a random series of digits ranging from 0 to 9 displayed on monitors placed at the immediate and future destinations of the walkway. Each number was displayed for at least 2 seconds to allow participants to have sufficient time to read them.

BEHAVIORAL

Control

The training phase consisted of 20 consecutive training trials, with a rest interval of at least 30 seconds between trials. All participants had to circumvent an obstacle during each trial on the 8-m level-ground walkway. During each trial, the general instruction was to walk to the end of the walkway at your natural pace.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2021-10-01
Primary Completion
2023-06-30
Completion
2023-06-30

Countries

  • Hong Kong

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 NCT06571526 on ClinicalTrials.gov