Fall Injury, Old Age; Debility, Postural; Defect
Conditions
Keywords
Older Adults in Hong Kong, Conscious Movement Processing, Postural Stability, Muscle Efficiency, Attentional Focus
Brief summary
This study aims to address critical knowledge gaps by investigating the effects of trait conscious movement processing propensity on real-time (state) conscious movement processing propensity, postural stability, and muscle efficiency in older adults at risk of falling in Hong Kong with high and low trait conscious movement processing propensities, while standing in a challenging environment with different levels of standing task difficulties. The study results would contribute to our scientific understanding of the mechanisms of conscious movement processing in older adults while maintaining standing balance in a challenging environment. It could inform the follow-up investigations for the development of the most appropriate psychomotor standing balance re-education intervention in rehabilitation so as to mitigate the effect of conscious movement processing and the risk of falling in older adults. The findings from the proposed research could ultimately help improve the outcome of fall rehabilitation programmes and reduce the impact of falls in the older adults in Hong Kong.
Interventions
OTHERStanding tasks with different task difficulty
The three different standing positions will include wide-base standing on foam (WBF) with low-level of task difficulty, narrow-base standing on foam (NBF) with moderate-level of task difficulty, and tandem standing on foam (TAF) with high-level of task difficulty.
Sponsors
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Study design
Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
CROSS_SECTIONAL
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
65 Years to 99 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* 65 years old or above; * able to stand independently without a walking aid.
Exclusion criteria
* a history of any major cerebrovascular and/or neurological disorders (e.g., stroke, Parkinson's disease); * a history of a major fall event within the past year; * the existence of an unstable medical or mobility condition that could affect safety in this study; * a score of 23/30 or below in the Chinese version of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-C); * a static visual acuity poorer than 20/40 vision (examined by the Tumbling-E eye chart).
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Real-time (state) conscious movement processing propensity | Day 0 | It will be measured by the Alpha2 electrocephalogram (EEG) T3-Fz coherence. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Muscle efficiency | Day 0 | It will be measured by the surface electromyography (EMG). |
| Functional mobility | Day 0 | It will be measured by the Timed 'Up & Go' (TUG) test. |
| Balance ability | Day 0 | It will be measured by the Berg Balance Scale. The minimum value of the scale is 0 and the maximum value is 56. Higher score represents better balance ability. |
| Postural stability | Day 0 | It will be measured by the 3-D motion capture system to identify the postural sway in the unit of millimeter (mm) or the postural sway velocity in the unit of meter per second (m/s). |
| Trait conscious movement processing propensity | Day 0 | It will be measured by the the Chinese version of the Movement-Specific Reinvestment Scale. The minimum value of the scale is 10 and the maximum value is 60. Higher score represents higher trait conscious movement processing propensity. |
| Perceived standing task difficulty | Day 0 | It will be measured by the Visual Analog Scale. The minimum value of the scale is 0 and the maximum value is 100. Higher score represents higher perceived standing task difficulty. |
| Fear of falling | Day 0 | It will be measured by the Falls Efficacy Scale International. The minimum value of the scale is 16 and the maximum value is 64. Higher score represents higher fear of falling. |
Countries
China
Contacts
Primary ContactThomson Wong, PhD
Outcome results
None listed