Gait Training For Reducing Risk Of Fall in the Elderly

Fall injuries produce serious threats to elderly people. Fall hazards are many, they include physical, psychological, social, and economic consequences. Many studies have shown that walking and balance exercises effectively contribute to enhancing walking performance, improving obstacle avoidance, and reducing the incidence of falls in the elderly. Therefore, the practice of complex and challenging situations of the usual daily walking is very important to prevent falls. Many studies have shown that treadmill training is effective in improving the elderly person's ability to walk and avoid falls. The C-Mill treadmill is recently used for the training of impaired gait and balance. C-Mill applies a virtual reality environment, obstacle avoidance games, and a variety of balance challenges in a safe and controlled environment to increase walking adaptability and improve performance in everyday life.Fall injuries produce serious consequences. The management of these injuries is costly and has a negative impact on healthcare entities. Therefore, prevention programs for preventing and reducing falls among the elderly are very important for reducing these serious consequences. Therefore, this study will compare the efficacy of gait training with a virtual reality treadmill and the conventional physical therapy training program on the risk of fall in the elderly.

Inclusion criteria

60 healthy older adults, both sexes, will participate in this study. Their ages will be between 60 to 70 years. They should have stable medical status based on a confirmed written medical report signed by their physicians. All participants should not receive other training to improve their balance and gait during the duration of the study application except through this study training program.

Exclusion criteria

The exclusion criteria will include any participant with:

• a cognitive reduction (< 23 points based on the Mini-Mental State Examination scale;
• muscle paralysis,
• fixed lower limb bony deformities,
• balance deficits,
• visual problems,
• diabetes mellitus,
• polyneuropathy,
• gait disorders,
• using assistive walking devices during walking,
• vertigo, anti-seizures drug use and hypertension,
• vestibular and cerebellar problems; and
• auditory and perceptual diseases/impairments