Aging Clinical Trial
Official title:
Cerebral Networks of Locomotor Learning and Retention in Older Adults
Older adults often experience substantial deficits in walking ability, especially for walking tasks that are more complex such as obstacle crossing. This is due in part to changes in the brain that make performance of physical and cognitive tasks more difficult. Rehabilitation can help to improve walking ability, but effective rehabilitation is time consuming and expensive. New approaches are needed to improve the efficiency of rehabilitation so that gains in walking ability are widely attainable. A promising strategy is to focus on enhancing motor learning, which is defined as improved ability to perform a motor task due to practice or experience. The investigators will investigate the use of non-invasive brain stimulation to increase motor learning and retention of the newly learned walking skills. The investigators will also use neuroimaging to assess brain characteristics that explain how motor learning works. The knowledge gained from this study is expected to contribute to better understanding of mechanistic targets and intervention approaches to improve rehabilitation of walking.
Aging often leads to substantial declines in walking function, especially for walking tasks that are more complex such as obstacle crossing. This is due in part to a lack of continued practice of complex walking (sedentary lifestyle) combined with age-related deficits of brain structure and the integrity of brain networks. Neurorehabilitation can contribute to recovery of lost walking function in older adults, but major and persistent improvements are elusive. A cornerstone of neurorehabilitation is motor learning, defined as an enduring change in the ability to perform a motor task due to practice or experience. Unfortunately, in most clinical settings, the time and cost demands of delivering a sufficiently intensive motor learning intervention is not feasible. There is a need for research to develop strategies for enhancing motor learning of walking ("locomotor learning") in order to improve the effectiveness of neurorehabilitation. The objective of this study is to use non-invasive brain stimulation to augment locomotor learning and to investigate brain networks that are responsible for locomotor learning in mobility-compromised older adults. The investigators have shown that frontal brain regions, particularly prefrontal cortex, are crucial to control of complex walking tasks. The investigators' neuroimaging and neuromodulation studies also show that prefrontal cortex structure and network connectivity are important for acquisition and consolidation of new motor skills. However, a major gap exists regarding learning of walking tasks. The proposed study is designed to address this gap. The investigators' pilot data from older adults shows that prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) administered during learning of a complex obstacle walking task contributes to multi-day retention of task performance. In the proposed study the investigators will build upon this pilot work by conducting a full scale trial that also investigates mechanisms related to brain structure, functional activity, and network connectivity. The investigators will address the following specific aims: Specific Aim 1: Determine the extent to which prefrontal tDCS augments the effect of task practice for retention of performance on a complex obstacle walking task. Specific Aim 2: Determine the extent to which retention of performance is associated with individual differences in baseline and practice-induced changes in brain measures (including gray matter volume and brain network segregation). Specific Aim 3: Investigate the extent to which tDCS modifies resting state network segregation. The investigators anticipate that prefrontal tDCS will augment retention of locomotor learning, and that the data will provide the first evidence of specific brain mechanisms responsible for locomotor learning/retention in older adults with mobility deficits. This new knowledge will provide a clinically feasible intervention approach as well as reveal mechanistic targets for future interventions to enhance locomotor learning and retention. ;
Status | Clinical Trial | Phase | |
---|---|---|---|
Completed |
NCT05433233 -
Effects of Lifestyle Walking on Blood Pressure in Older Adults With Hypertension
|
N/A | |
Recruiting |
NCT06032065 -
SMART Exercise for PAD
|
Phase 3 | |
Active, not recruiting |
NCT05293730 -
Trial of the Impact of the Electronic Frailty Integrated With Social Needs
|
N/A | |
Recruiting |
NCT03932162 -
Gene Expression Changes In Young and Geriatric Skin
|
Early Phase 1 | |
Completed |
NCT04064528 -
Effects of Age on Amino Acid Delivery to Tendon
|
N/A | |
Active, not recruiting |
NCT03366129 -
Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption in People With White Matter Hyperintensities Who Have Had a Stroke
|
||
Completed |
NCT06029920 -
Influence of Overground Walking on Biomarkers, Cognitive Function, and Quality of Life in Elderly With Mild Cognitive Impairment
|
N/A | |
Recruiting |
NCT05566938 -
Study to Design a Precision Nutrition Strategy at a Group Level in the Elderly
|
N/A | |
Recruiting |
NCT05543980 -
Leg Heat Therapy in Elderly Individuals
|
Phase 2 | |
Completed |
NCT04894929 -
Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment in the Monitoring of Functional Improvement
|
N/A | |
Not yet recruiting |
NCT06071130 -
Emotion, Aging, and Decision Making
|
N/A | |
Enrolling by invitation |
NCT04641663 -
Multi-target Dietary Supplement Tolerability in an Aging Population (MTDSST)
|
N/A | |
Completed |
NCT04088006 -
The Evaluation of Efficacy and Safety of Hyaluronic Acid Injection on Skin Moisturization and Elasticity
|
N/A | |
Completed |
NCT03695081 -
Patient Pathway Pharmacist - Optimal Drug-related Care
|
N/A | |
Recruiting |
NCT05424263 -
Acetate and Age-associated Arterial Dysfunction
|
Phase 2 | |
Completed |
NCT05601713 -
Mitigating Heat-induced Physiological Strain and Discomfort in Older Adults Via Lower Limb Immersion and Neck Cooling
|
N/A | |
Completed |
NCT04551339 -
Zinc Versus Multivitamin Micronutrient Supplementation in the Setting of COVID-19
|
N/A | |
Recruiting |
NCT04997577 -
Speech Perception and High Cognitive Demand
|
N/A | |
Completed |
NCT05922475 -
Efficacy of Pre-sleep or Post-exercise Protein During 12 Weeks of Resistance Exercise Training
|
N/A | |
Completed |
NCT04015479 -
Peanut Protein Supplementation to Augment Muscle Growth and Improve Markers of Muscle Quality and Health in Older Adults
|
N/A |