Gait and Postural Balance Analysis During Head-motion Perturbed Standing and Walking in Older Adults — BALANCAR  

Aged Clinical Trial

Official title: Gait and Postural Balance Analysis During Head-motion Perturbed Standing and Walking in Older Adults - a Multisensory Approach by Use of Mixed-reality

Status Recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

The main aim of this study is to unravel the biomechanics of postural balance reactions during head-motion perturbed standing and walking in older adults who fall, while integrating the influence of frailty, sensory functioning and cognitive processing.

Clinical Trial Description

Older adults above 65 years old experience falls at a rate of 20-40% annually, with women being more affected than men. Unintentional falls are the second leading cause of accidental injury death and a major contributor to disability levels worldwide. Falls pose an even bigger burden on society in the future due to the increasing number of older adults and the higher prevalence of falls as people age. Gait and balance instability are major risk and causative factors for falls in older adults. As people age, their stability decreases. This is evident in the careful way that older adults walk. To prevent and predict falls, it is essential to understand how humans maintain their stability during locomotor activities.

Balance disruptions are typically not caused by walking itself, but rather by internal or external disturbances or the performance of multiple tasks simultaneously. In daily life, people often face complex situations that require high levels of sensory input and cognitive processing. This can be especially challenging when also trying to maintain a safe walking pattern, such as when checking the environment before crossing the street. This task requires coordinated movement of both the head and eyes to track moving objects. Gaze control requires accurate cognitive processing, including multisensory integration, attention, executive functioning, and motor responses to coordinate eye and head movements.

Older adults use different strategies than younger adults to control head movement for stabilizing their head during walking. Therefore, changes in head position may affect gait stability differently in older adults. Ageing can cause frailty, decline in sensorimotor and cognitive abilities, and a reduced capacity to adjust gait to changing environments. These changes may increase the risk of falls in older adults. However, research on these issues is currently insufficient. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Accidental Fall
• Aged
• Gait
• Postural Balance

• NCT number: NCT06345625
• Study type: Observational
• Source: Universiteit Antwerpen
• Contact: Ann Hallemans, PhD
• Phone: 032652912
• Email: ann.hallemans@uantwerpen.be
• Status: Recruiting
• Start date: May 7, 2024
• Completion date: January 2028