Motor Imagery and Turning Practice to Improve Mobility: Pilot Trial

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether combining in-person turning practice with home-based Motor Imagery Therapy (MIT) is feasible and may improve mobility in community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and older who report balance or turning-related mobility concerns. MIT involves mentally practicing movements and watching movement demonstrations without physically performing the movement.

The main questions this study aims to answer are whether it is feasible for older adults to complete a combined in-person and home-based turning and motor imagery program based on attendance, retention, and activity monitor use; whether adding MIT to a turning intervention improves turning performance more than a comparison program focused on stress management education; whether MIT increases daily physical activity, increases walking intensity, and reduces sedentary time in daily life; and whether measures of brain function related to movement control predict how much participants improve following the intervention.

Researchers will compare a locomotor turning intervention combined with MIT (Loco+MIT) to a locomotor turning intervention combined with stress management education (Loco+SME) to determine whether MIT leads to greater improvements in mobility and daily activity.

Participants will attend five laboratory visits that include mobility testing, brain stimulation assessments, and physical activity assessments. Participants will also complete six weeks of in-person turning practice sessions held twice per week and home-based sessions three times per week consisting of either motor imagery training or stress management education. In addition, participants will wear a physical activity monitor during daily life to measure movement and sedentary behavior and will complete follow-up assessments after the intervention to evaluate changes in mobility and activity over time.

Conditions

• Mobility Impairment
• Community Dwelling Older Adults

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Motor Imagery Therapy

Motor Imagery Therapy (MIT) is a home-based behavioral intervention that combines guided mental rehearsal of movement with action observation. Participants will complete sessions focused on imagining and observing functional mobility tasks and turning-related movements without physically performing the movements.

BEHAVIORAL

Stress Management Education

Stress Management Education (SME) is a home-based educational intervention designed to serve as an active comparison condition. Participants will complete sessions focused on stress management, sleep, wellness, and general health education without motor imagery or movement practice components.

BEHAVIORAL

Locomotor Turning Practice

Locomotor Turning Practice is an in-person mobility intervention focused on improving turning performance and dynamic mobility in older adults. Sessions will include structured practice of turning movements, weight shifting, stepping transitions, and head-trunk coordination exercises conducted twice weekly over six weeks.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)

  collaborator NIH

• Boise State University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

65 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-08-01

Primary Completion

2028-01-31

Completion

2029-01-31