Project R-12956

The effectiveness and generalisability of innovative taskspecific training of distinct fall-resisting skills in older adults (Research)

Falls represent a major health and financial burden for our ageing societies and despite strong evidence for how general exercise might reduce falls, interventions have, to date, not had a meaningful effect on national level falls statistics (with increasing incidence, hospital admission and deaths in recent years). Typically, interventions are not administered at the necessary dose for a long enough time or suffer from poor adherence. One alternative approach to frequent regular exercise, is less frequent but highly specific fall-resisting skills training. In this project, 3 fall-resisting skills (proactive gait adaptability, gait robustness and reactive gait recovery) will be tested and trained on the state-of-the-art GRAIL and CAREN systems of UHasselt and Maastricht University in a preliminary randomised placebo-controlled trial with older adults to examine both the effectiveness of each short training protocol (4 sessions over 2 weeks) on the trained skill, as well as the generalisability to the other skills. The testing and training protocols will build on previous work of the research team and will also be shared with other users of these systems to foster further and more widespread collaboration. In addition to the lab-based outcomes, potential effects on daily life near falls and falls over the following 12-month period will be examined. The project will provide critical new insight into how falls can be prevented in a very specific and efficient manner.

01 October 2022 - 30 September 2026