Recruiting

Reactive Balance Training

Sponsor:

Toronto Rehabilitation Institute

Code:

NCT06657989

Conditions

Accidental Falls

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 65 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Reactive balance training

Walking

Study Details

Brief summary:

Falls in daily life are a serious risk for older adults. A new type of balance training, called reactive balance training (RBT) involves people losing balance many times so that they can practice fast balance reactions, like stepping reactions. Differences in training program features might explain differences in the results of previous RBT studies. Training intensity is the difficulty or challenge of the training program. It would be valuable to know if high-intensity RBT improves balance reactions quickly. The main goal of this study is to see if more intense RBT improves balance reactions faster than less intense RBT. The investigators will compare how quickly people improve balance reactions between high- and moderate-intensity RBT, and between RBT and a control program that does not include RBT. The investigators will also test if the improvements in balance reactions last after the training program is over. The secondary goals are to understand exactly how balance reactions improve with training, and to determine if people who complete RBT improve their general balance skills, and falls efficacy more than people who do not complete RBT.

Conditions

Accidental Falls

Study ID

NCT06657989

Start date

Jan 21, 2025

Status verified date

Oct, 2024

Completion date

Dec 31, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Mar 1, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 65 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Community-dwelling older adults (65-80 years old)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Unable to stand independently without upper-limb support for >30 seconds and/or walk independently (without a gait aid) for ≥10 metres;
  • Diagnosed neurological condition that could affect balance control (e.g., stroke, Parkinson's disease);
  • Score below normative values on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment;
  • Score below age-matched normative values for sensory and motor function, as assessed using the FallScreen battery;
  • Have insufficient English language comprehension such that they cannot understand instructions;
  • Have contraindications to reactive balance training such as severe osteoporosis; and/or
  • Are currently attending physiotherapy or supervised exercise.

Study Design

Enrollment

96 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Prevention

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: High intensity reactive balance training

Participants will complete 5 1-hour training sessions over 11 days. During each training session, participants will complete 36 multi-directional (left-, right-, and forward-fall) perturbations. Participants assigned to high-intensity RBT will experience perturbations at 150% of the multi-step threshold; for example, for a multi-step threshold of 2 m/s\^2 the high intensity perturbation will be 3 m/s\^2.

active comparator: Moderate intensity reactive balance training

Participants will complete 5 1-hour training sessions over 11 days. During each training session, participants will complete 36 multi-directional (left-, right-, and forward-fall) perturbations. Participants assigned to moderate-intensity RBT will experience perturbations at 100% of the multi-step threshold; for example, for a multi-step threshold of 2 m/s\^2 the high intensity perturbation will be 2 m/s\^2.

sham comparator: Walking control group

Participants assigned to the walking control group will complete 36 trials of unperturbed walking in each training session.

Interventions

Reactive balance training

Reactive balance training involves clients experiencing repeated balance perturbations so that they can practice and improve control of reactions to avoid falling after a loss of balance.

Walking

Overground walking

Primary outcome measure

  • Number of reactive steps [ Time Frame: Two weeks ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Locations

University Health Network

Recruiting

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 2A2

Contacts

More Information

Sponsor

Toronto Rehabilitation Institute

Last update posted

Jan 27, 2025

Last verified

Oct, 2024

Keywords

  • Postural balance
  • Aging
  • Biomechanics
  • Rehabilitation

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Toronto Rehabilitation Institute on 2025-01-27.