Learning Fall Prevention Skills Through Treadmill Training in Older Adults With Mild Alzheimers Disease

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are investigating whether people with mild Alzheimers disease can learn and retain skills to resist falls through specialized training. The study focuses on teaching fall prevention skills by exposing participants to controlled disturbances while walking on a treadmill. The research aims to understand if these skills can be adapted, retained over time, and applied in real-life situations to reduce fall risk in this population. Two groups of people with mild Alzheimers disease will take part. One group will receive a single session of perturbation training on a treadmill, where they experience repeated controlled disturbances while secured by a safety harness. The other group will walk on the treadmill under the harness for the same duration but without perturbations. Both groups will be tested immediately, and again three and six months after training, with exposure to disturbances on the ground to assess skill retention and generalization. Participants will be closely monitored for six months after training, with researchers tracking falls during daily life and evaluating responses to lab-induced disturbances. Assessments will include measuring lab-induced fall rates, dynamic stability, and the number of falls during the follow-up period. The study involves walking tests, cognitive evaluations, and ongoing observation to understand how well participants manage fall risks over time.

Perturbation Training Reduces Falls in People With Alzheimer's Disease (AD)