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Browsing by Author "Alexander, Neil B."

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    A proposed methodology for trip recovery training without a specialized treadmill
    Lee, Youngjae; Alexander, Neil B.; Madigan, Michael L. (Frontiers, 2022-11)
    Falls are the leading cause of accidental injuries among adults aged 65 years and older. Perturbation-based balance training is a novel exercise-based fall prevention intervention that has shown promise in reducing falls. Trip recovery training is a form of perturbation-based balance training that targets trip-induced falls. Trip recovery training typically requires the use of a specialized treadmill, the cost of which may present a barrier for use in some settings. The goal of this paper is to present a methodology for trip recovery training that does not require a specialized treadmill. A trial is planned in the near future to evaluate its effectiveness. If effective, non-treadmill trip recovery training could provide a lower cost method of perturbation-based balance training, and facilitate greater implementation outside of the research environment.
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    Wrist-worn voice recorders capture the circumstances and context of losses of balance among community-dwelling older adults
    Lee, Youngjae; Alexander, Neil B.; Pompeii, Lisa; Nyquist, Linda V.; Madigan, Michael L. (Wiley, 2024-08-16)
    Background: Most falls among community-dwelling older adults are due to a loss of balance (LOB) after tripping or slipping. Unfortunately, limited insight is available on the detailed circumstances and context of these LOBs. Moreover, commonly used methods to collect this information is susceptible to limitations of memory recall. The goal of this pilot observational study was to explore the circumstances and context of self-reported LOBs captured by wristworn voice recorders among community-dwelling older adults. Methods: In this pilot observational cohort study, 30 community-dwelling adults with a mean (SD) age of 71.8 (4.4) years were asked to wear a voice recorder on their wrist daily for 3 weeks. Following any naturally-occurring LOB, participants were asked to record their verbal responses to six questions regarding the circumstances and context of each LOB abbreviated with the mnemonic 4WHO: When, Where, What, Why, How, and Outcome. Results: Participants wore the voice recorder 10.9 (0.6) hours per day for 20.7 (0.5) days. One hundred seventy-five voice recordings were collected, with 122 meeting our definition of a LOB. Each participant reported 0–23 LOBs over the 3 weeks or 1.4 (2.1) per participant per week. Across all participants, LOBs were most commonly reported 3 p.m. or later (42%), inside the home (39%), while walking (33%), resulting from a trip (54%), and having induced a stepping response to regain balance (48%). No LOBs resulted in a fall. Conclusions: Among community-dwelling older adults, wrist-worn voice recorders capture the circumstances and context of LOBs thereby facilitating the documentation of detail of LOBs and potentially falls, without reliance on later recall.