Aging and Task-specific Training to Reduce Falls

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the effects of a novel task-specific balance training for reducing environmental falls in community ambulatory older adults who are at-risk of falling. The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Does task-specific balance training improve the ability to prevent falling when unexpected perturbations such as slips and trips occur, and/or improve balance control during self-initiated movements?
* Does task-specific balance training reduce real-life falls for 18 months after training?

Researchers will compare task-specific balance training with conventional balance training and treadmill perturbation-based training to examine how this novel intervention compares to established interventions for improving balance.

Participants who participate in the study will be asked to do the following:

* Complete a pre-training assessment of their balance control, and then be randomized to one of three training groups: 1) task-specific balance training, 2) treadmill perturbation-based training, and 3) conventional balance training
* Complete their assigned training protocol for 8 weeks (2x per week for a total of 16 sessions)
* Complete 2 post-training assessments of their balance control, the first being completed immediately after the training is completed, and the second being completed 18 months after the training is completed
* Wear a physical activity monitor for 18 months after completing the intervention to monitor their real life falls.

Conditions

• Fall Prevention

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Task-Specific Balance Training

Participants in the intervention groups will receive 8 weeks of task-specific balance training that includes both functional tasks and predictable perturbations specific to slips and trips. Sessions will be completed 2x per week for 8 weeks (16 sessions total).

BEHAVIORAL

Treadmill Perturbation Training

Participants in the treadmill perturbation training group will receive 8 weeks of training that includes exposure to slip-like and trip-like perturbations delivered via motorized treadmill. Sessions will be completed 2x per week for 8 weeks (16 sessions total).

BEHAVIORAL

Conventional Balance Training

Participants in the conventional balance training group will receive 8 weeks of training that includes conventional exercises designed to improve balance control. Sessions will be completed 2x per week for 8 weeks (16 sessions total).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Aging (NIA)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Illinois at Chicago

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

60 Years

Max Age

90 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-08-15

Primary Completion

2029-05-31

Completion

2029-08-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations