Reactive Balance Training for Fall Prevention
This study is looking at three different types of balance training to help prevent falls: Treadmill training, Overground training, and Surefooted training. These methods involve creating small slips and trips to help your body learn how to react and recover. We want to see how well these trainings work for healthy young adults, healthy older adults, and people who have had a stroke. The study also aims to find out if 30 minutes of Surefooted training is practical and well-tolerated. Ultimately, we hope to understand the long-term benefits of this training for reducing fall risk. You can join if you are between 18 and 90 years old, in good health, and can understand and speak English. For those who have had a stroke, specific criteria apply.
- Study design
- This is an interventional study with a planned enrollment of 90 participants. It will compare the effects of three different balance training methods.
- What's involved
- Participants will experience slips and trips during training sessions. Some participants may also be asked if they would like to undergo fMRI scans before and after training.
- Compensation
- Not stated in the trial record.
- Follow-up
- The primary outcomes, such as changes in stability and limb support, will be measured at baseline (first novel slip) and immediately after the training session (week 1).
AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.
Reactive Balance Training for Fall Prevention
At a glance
Conditions
Where it's being run
1 sites across 1 statesStudy leadership
- Tanvi Bhatt, PhD · PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR · University of Illinois at Chicago
Who to contact
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Do you actually qualify for this trial?
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Inclusion
Exclusion
What this trial measures
- Change in Stability gain or lossBaseline (1st novel slip, week 1) and at Immediate post-training (after repeated perturbation training session, week 1)
Stability is defined by both the position of a person's center-of-mass (COM) with respect to his or her base-of-support (BOS) and it's velocity.
- Change in Limb support gain or lossBaseline (1st novel slip, week 1) and Immediate post-training (after repeated perturbation training session, week 1)
The inability to provide timely limb support due to insufficient amount of upward impulse generated from the ground reactive force can cause limb collapse, as characterized by the quotient of amount and rate of hip descent (Vhip/Zhip) measured from hip height and lead to an eventual fall.
- Change in laboratory-induced fallsBaseline (1st novel slip, week 1) and Immediate post-training (after repeated perturbation training session, week 1)
Perturbation is induced successfully and safely to reproduce inadvertent falls in a protective laboratory environment. Falls will be measured by the amount of body weight supported by the full-body harness system and measured by a load cell attached to this system. Instability of the body's COM and poor limb support prior to touchdown of the recovery step account for 90\~100% of subsequent falls (occurring \~500ms later) in both sit-to-stand-slip and in gait-slip, in the laboratory settings. Intervention consists of repeated perturbation training to induce a change in the laboratory induced falls immediately post-training and examine it's retention after the initial training session.
- Number of Real life fallsprospective post-training over next 12 months (total falls tracked and reported at 12 months post-training will be compared between groups)
Real life falls are measured to determine if training effect can be translated into everyday real life setting.