Smart Rehabilitation Platform Development Using Vestibular Balance-Cognition Dual-Task System Predicting Balance Risks in Adults Aged 55 and Older

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are studying how vestibular problems and thinking abilities like attention and mental flexibility relate in older adults. The study focuses on how performing a balance task and a thinking task simultaneously affects their performance. Two groups will be compared healthy older adults and those who have experienced dizziness or falls in the past two years. The aim is to help design future assessment and training programs to reduce balance problems and falls in this population. Participants will complete questionnaires and simple cognitive tests while seated. They will then perform standing balance tasks on a portable force platform under various conditions, repeating some cognitive tasks simultaneously. Next, participants will walk on a treadmill wearing motion sensors, both with and without added thinking tasks such as serial subtraction and digit reordering. The total testing time is about 90 minutes. During the study, participants will be assessed with various measures including gait speed, stride length, step width, cadence, and trunk movement using wearable inertial sensors. Cognitive and balance confidence scales will also be used. The study includes a single baseline laboratory visit to collect these data. The results will help understand balance and cognitive function in older adults and inform future rehabilitation strategies.

Vestibular Balance-Cognition Dual-Task Digital System: Development of a Smart Rehabilitation Platform for the Elderly and Prediction of Balance Function Risks