Grant: Summer Program in Aging

Age related changes in visual, neural and musculoskeletal systems impact balance and increase risk of falls. One in three adults over 65 years old falls at least once every year. Fall negatively impacts functional independence and quality of life and is associated with increased mortality and morbidity. Abnormal walking patterns can develop before fall happens and is as an early indicator of future fall risk. Some examples of alterations in the walking pattern of older adults related to the fall include changes in walking speed. Fall risk increases when older adults try to do a mental task while walking. This is called dual task. Dual task is used in fall related research. However, it is not clear what level of mental activity is exactly needed to accurately show people at risk of falls. The purpose of this study is to investigate the minimum level of mental activity needed for early detection of fall risk in older adults. Method: 50 individuals above the age of 70 years old will participate in this study. A1-year fall history questionnaire will be given to participants to fill out. 25 participants will be randomly selected among people with no history fall during the last 12 months and 25 will be selected from people with history of one or more falls during the last 12 months. Participants will walk on a pressure sensitive mat with their preferred walking speed. Gait speed will be analyzed when participants walk without doing mental activity and when they subtract 7, 3 and 2 from a random number. Gait speed will be compared between the 2 groups and in each condition (7,3,2). The goal is to identify the level of mental activity when walking speed starts to change in favor of fall risk detection. Early identification of fall risk allows for the implementation of timely appropriate interventions such as combined physical and cognitive training, prescription of gait aids and cognition enhancing medications to decrease potential negative health outcomes.