A Balanced Assessment and Training Protocol (BATP) to Address Balance Disorders in Older and Neurologically Disabled Veterans

Study Summary

Falls are by far the leading cause of accidental injury and death in older adults. The Veteran population is more severely affected by falls since it is significantly older than the overall population (45% over 65 years of age vs. 13%); and Veterans would benefit substantially more from an accurate diagnosis and treatment of fall propensity. Despite its importance, much is still unknown about the manner in which balance control is compromised by age and disease. Therapeutic interventions for people who are at risk of falling have proven to be of limited utility. Engineering methods are well suited to study and evaluate balance; but have to date been applied to overly simplified scenarios that lack the complexity to probe the musculoskeletal and neurophysiological bases for balance and falls. The long term objective of this research, which began with a VA Rehabilitation Research \& Development (RR\&D) Career Development Award (CDA-2), is to develop improved directives and protocols for the diagnosis and treatment of balance-related posture and movement coordination problems. This proposal significantly advances engineering methods to address existing gaps in the diagnosis and treatment of balance impairments through the development of a Balanced Assessment and Training Protocol (BATP). The BATP continuously challenges subjects to perform reaching tasks at the limits of their balance for an extended period of time, and increases these limits as subjects demonstrate improved performance. The goal of this tool is to quantitatively assess and improve at-risk individuals' ability to maintain balance when disturbed by volitional movements of the body and its parts-an important class of balance disturbances integral to many activities of daily living that can precipitate falls. The BATP focuses on performance at and just beyond the limits of balance, unlike most such tests and training protocols that do not challenge subjects in this way. The BATP's most immediate and sali

Primary Outcome

Measure of Balance Capability. Root Mean Squared Deviation (RMSD) records the root mean squared distance between the ground plane projection of whole-body Center of Mass and the center of the Base of Support during performance of the balanced reach task, in centimeters. It ranges from zero to the distance from the center of the Base of Support to the boundary of the Base of Support. Larger deviations indicate better performance than smaller deviations.

Interventions

• OTHER Multi-Modality Balance Intervention
• OTHER Balanced Reach Training (BRT)