Do Sensor-Based Interventions Differ from Traditional Physical Therapies in Improving Older Adults’ Balance?

Abstract

Interventions using sensor technologies have the potential to facilitate balance improvement in clinical practice and, to some extent, are recommended as an alternative to traditional physical therapies. However, whether sensor-based technologies differ from traditional physical therapies in improving older adults’ balance remains unclear. Our systematic review identified 25 randomized controlled trials for the meta-analysis. The findings showed that sensor-based interventions performed better than traditional physical therapies in improving balance performance (mean difference = -0.448s, p < 0.001). In subgroup analyses by dividing sensors into three categories (i.e., optical, perception, and wearable sensors), interventions using optical sensors were more effective than traditional physical therapies (mean difference = -0.681s, p < 0.001); while no significant differences were found for the interventions using perception sensors (mean difference = -0.226 s, p =0.106) and wearable sensors (mean difference = -0.490s, p < 0.328) as compared to traditional physical therapies.