Sensory Interaction and Balance Control During Standing and Walking in Healthy Young and Older Adults

NCT06629922 — Completed, 64 participants, Hasselt University

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Sensory Interaction and Balance Control During Standing and Walking Under Challenging Conditions in Healthy Young and Older Adults

Registry	NCT06629922
Status	Completed
Study type	Observational
Enrollment	64 (Actual)
Sponsor	Hasselt University (Other)
Conditions	Healthy, Young Adults, Older Adults (65 Years and Older), Elderly
Interventions	No intervention (Other)
Dates	start 2024-12-03, primary completion 2026-06-02, completion 2026-06-02, first posted 2024-10-08, last updated 2026-10-07
Locations	1 site in Belgium

-Summary

This project is designed to: a) develop a new test called Sensory Integration in Walking (SensIWalk) Test which would allow us to evaluate sensory interaction process in locomotion assess whether Locomotor CTSIB and to investigate whether SensIWalk is a reliable test to evaluate sensory interaction in both young and older adults, b) evaluate the difference in sensory interaction and balance performance between standing and walking between both young and older adults, c) examine the changes in sensory interaction process under challenging conditions such as perturbations, dual-task, and when both are present between both young and older adults, d) examine the association between overall fall risk defined by the single-large perturbations and sensory interaction processes used during all the trials in both age groups.

In order to achieve these aims, 10 trials will be conducted:

Trial 1- Single-Large Perturbation in Standing Trial 2- Single-Large Perturbation in Walking Trial 3- Instrumented CTSIB Trial 4- Locomotor CTSIB Trial 5- Instrumented CTSIB + Perturbations Trial 6- Locomotor CTSIB + Perturbations Trial 7- Instrumented CTSIB + Auditory Stroop Test Trial 8- Locomotor CTSIB + Auditory Stroop Test Trial 9- Instrumented CTSIB + Perturbations + Auditory Stroop Test Trial 10- Locomotor CTSIB + Perturbations + Auditory Stroop Test

Two different treadmill perturbations will be applied in addition to the Instrumented CTSIB and SensIWalk: a) slip perturbations, b) continuous perturbations. An auditory stroop task will be applied in relevant trials.

All of the trials will be performed either in CAREN High-End Systems or GRAIL (Motek Medical BV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) which are motion capture systems that are equipped with a treadmill, virtual reality (VR) screen, and a marker-based movement analysis system.

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+Arms and interventions

Arm	Type	Interventions	Description
Young Adults		Other: No intervention	a) aged between 18 to 35 years old and, b) have never been diagnosed with somatosensory, visual, and vestibular deficits as reported by the participants
Older Adults		Other: No intervention	a) are 65 years old and over and, b) have not fallen in the last 12 months will also be invited to participate

No intervention (Other): This is a observational study and the participants will not receive any intervention

+Outcome measures

Primary outcomes

Instrumented CTSIB [Baseline]: The Clinical Test of Sensory Integration and Balance (CTSIB) is a tool used to evaluate a person's sensory integration process by manipulating different sensory inputs. It assesses how well the body uses three main sensory systems (i.e., visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive inputs) to maintain postural control. Six conditions are included in the test, each progressively altering the availability of sensory information: Condition 1: Eyes Open, Firm Surface Condition 2: Eyes Closed, Firm Surface Condition 3: Eyes Open with visual conflict, Firm surface Condition 4: Eyes Open, Foam Surface Condition 5: Eyes Closed, Foam Surface Condition 6: Eyes Open with visual conflict, Foam Surface
Sensory Integration in Walking (SensIWalk) Test [Baseline]: This test was developed to evaluate sensory integration during walking.

Other outcomes

Center of Mass [Baseline]: Center of mass displacement changes between the trials will be compared to achieve the aims of the study.

+Eligibility

Sex: All, ages: 18 Years to any, accepts healthy volunteers

Inclusion Criteria:

* Young adults who: a) aged between 18 to 35 years old and, b) have never been diagnosed with somatosensory, visual, and vestibular deficits as reported by the participants, will be invited to participate. Community-dwelling older adults who: a) are 65 years old and over and, b) have not fallen in the last 12 months will also be invited to participate.

Exclusion Criteria:

* having had serious lower extremity injuries or operations in the past year,
* having any neurological (stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, etc.), sensory (i.e. peripheral neuropathy, diminished sense of pain, etc.) or motor disorder that can interfere with the results of the study
* Diagnosed vascular, respiratory, cardiac, orthopedic, or other disorders that affect the subject's ability to exercise safely,
* Medication affecting exercise tolerance. Additionally, based on the CAREN High-End Systems contraindications and risk factors the following exclusion criteria will be applied to the participants: a) a body weight higher than the 135 kg, b) an inability to properly adjust the harness to the respective body part due to pregnancy, colostomy bags, skin lesions that cannot be protected appropriately and any other reason that prevents a proper, pain-free adjustment of the harness.

+Locations (1)

Facility	City	Country	Status
REVAL Rehabilitation Research Center, Hasselt University	Diepenbeek	Belgium