Balance Assessments In Older Adults After A Six-week Walking Intervention With Different Gait Devices

Abstract

Older adults have a relatively high incidence of falls, which are costly for both the individual and the medical system. Falls result not only in physical injury or death, but also can lead to a decreased quality of life - both mentally and socially. Measuring different aspects of balance can help predict the risk for falling. PURPOSE: This study investigated how walking with no device, walking poles, or a gait trainer impacted balance measures in older adults. METHODS: Fourteen participants (3 men, 11 women, aged 77.53 +/- 7.28 years) were randomized to one of three walking groups: Control (C) (n=4), Walking Poles (WP) (n=5), or Gait Trainer (GT) (n=5). The gait trainer is a new device aimed at preventing age-related gait decline. Assessments were performed at three separate times: prior to the intervention (Pre-test), immediately after the intervention (Post1), and six weeks after Post1 (Post2). Assessments included subjective measures of balance confidence during activities of daily living (Falls Efficacy Scale International and Activities-Specific Balance Confidence), and physical measures of balance (Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and the Timed Up and Go (TUG)). For the six-week intervention, all participants walked three times per week for 30 minutes in their assigned walking group. RESULTS: An ANOVA showed there were no statistically significant differences between the groups at Pre-test for all metrics (p > 0.05). All groups were below the cut off score of a high fall risk (≥14 s) for the TUG at Pre-test: C 9.00 ± 2.18 s, WP 9.41 ± 2.41 s, and GT 11.29 ± 4.99 s. All groups were above the cut off score (<45 out of 56) for greater risk of falls on the BBS at Pre-test: C 51.5 ± 1.29, WP 52 ± 5.00, and GT 48.4 ± 5.03. Between group measurements across time were analyzed using linear regression models for all metrics, with an alpha set at p < 0.05. There were no statistically significant differences between groups across time. CONCLUSION: This study found that the walking group did not impact balance measurements over time with the six-week walking intervention. All three groups were relatively high-functioning compared to age norms, which may have impacted scoring sensitivity on the TUG and BBS. Future studies may consider using more challenging interventions and balance assessments for higher-functioning older adult populations.