Practicing recovery from a simulated trip improves recovery kinematics after an actual trip

Abstract

The goal of this study was to determine if practicing recovery from a simulated trip improved the ability of older adults to recover from an actual trip. Twelve healthy older adults ranging in age from 63 to 83 years were randomly assigned to either a control or an experimental group. Each group performed one trip before and one trip after an intervention. The experimental group received trip recovery training on a modified treadmill while the control group walked on a treadmill for 15 min. Compared to the control group, the experimental group showed greater reduction in maximum trunk angle (p=0.027) and time to maximum trunk angle (p=0.043), as well as increased minimum hip height (p=0.020). Although the results showed beneficial effects of trip recovery training on actual trip recovery, future studies should explore the ability to retain improvements over extended periods.