Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the effects of a rhythm-motor dual task intervention on cognitive and gait control for older adults in relation to fall prevention. Ten healthy older adults participated in a rhythm-motor dual task intervention and 10 participated in the control group. The intervention group received 16 30-min intervention sessions for 8 weeks. During the intervention sessions, participants engaged in walking or bimanual tapping as a primary motor task with concurrent rhythm tasks including playing instruments and rhythmic chanting or singing. At pretest and post-test, measures of cognition, balance/mobility, and gait were administered. A significant difference between groups was found for part B of the Trail Making Test (TMT-B) measure that involved executive control of attention. Also, changes in the gait ratio in the dual task condition of walking while playing an instrument were significantly different between groups. The findings in this study support the use of the rhythm-motor dual task intervention for increasing available cognitive resources and improving gait control, which are critical factors in fall prevention.
Highlights
The risk of falling increases with age, and falling among the elderly commonly results in decreased physical and social functioning, reduced cognitive performance, and lower quality of life (Karlsson et al, 2011)
The results showed no significant differences between groups and indicated that both groups exhibited similar level of cognitive functioning, balance/mobility, and gait parameters
There were significant time effects in Timed Up-and-Go (TUG) and gait ratio measured in the condition of walking with instrument playing, indicating that changes in such measures were significant across the time
Summary
The risk of falling increases with age, and falling among the elderly commonly results in decreased physical and social functioning, reduced cognitive performance, and lower quality of life (Karlsson et al, 2011). There are increasing calls for interventions that can prevent falls among older adults. Recent research indicates that any intervention targeting gait control for fall prevention should be based on the interplay between motor and cognitive functions (Amboni et al, 2013). This research demonstrates that gait involves cognitive resources and attentional control rather than being an automated motor task (Hausdorff et al, 2005). As aging interferes with such cognitive processing, interventions for older adults should focus on enhancing their ability to adapt to increased attentional loads while walking (Rubenstein, 2006). Since walking in everyday environments involves attention to concurrent stimuli (e.g., traffic signs and obstacles in a walkway), high dual task performance is associated with a stable and safe gait (Neider et al, 2011). Walking speed has been documented as a important predictor for falls
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