Development of Safe Balance and Gait Training Programs for Frail Elderly: A Joint Multi-center Study

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25671005
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Gerontological nursing
• Research Institution: Kyoto Tachibana University
• Principal Investigator: MURATA Shin 京都橘大学, 健康科学部, 教授 (00389503)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): MURATA Jun 長崎大学, 医歯薬学総合研究科, 准教授 (00304428) ; YAMASAKI Sakiya 富山大学, 医学薬学研究部, 教授 (20352352) ; OYAMA Michie 福岡県立大学, 人間社会学部, 研究員 (40448816) ; KAI Yoshihiro 京都橘大学, 健康科学部, 准教授 (90632852)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: バランスゲイト / 高齢者 / 介護予防

Outline of Final Research Achievements

After balance and gait training during which elderly participants walked as slowly as possible, the gait velocity and durations of the stance, double support, and swing phases significantly increased, while the step and stride lengths and cadence markedly decreased. Furthermore, during training, lower-limb muscle activity significantly decreased compared to that when walking at an optimal velocity, confirming its usefulness to develop gait patterns reducing burdens on the lower-limbs. Such gait patterns were observed more frequently among those showing a stronger toe grip and longer duration of standing on one leg with the eyes open. There were no marked differences in physical functions between the intervention and control groups after performing balance and gait training once weekly, indicating the necessity of increasing the training frequency to obtain sufficient effects.

Free Research Field

高齢看護学