NCT01956227

Fall Risk Reduction in Multiple Sclerosis: Exercise Versus Behavior

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 1 / Phase 2
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 37 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 50 Years – 75 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Falls are a serious health concern for persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). Over 50% of persons with MS suffer a fall over a 6-month periodwith the majority of falls resulting in medical attention for injuries (i.e., lacerations, bone fractures, \& head injuries). The effects of a fall are often compounded as it can lead to activity curtailment, physiological deconditioning, and institutionalization. Despite the importance of falls in persons with MS, the appropriate prevention strategies (i.e. rehabilitation approaches) are not clear. The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether exercise based or educational based interventions are more suited for fall prevention in older adults with MS.

Detailed description

Falls are a serious health concern for persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). Over 50% of persons with MS suffer a fall over a 6-month periodwith the majority of falls resulting in medical attention for injuries (i.e., lacerations, bone fractures, \& head injuries). The effects of a fall are often compounded as it can lead to activity curtailment, physiological deconditioning, and institutionalization. Despite the importance of falls in persons with MS, the appropriate prevention strategies (i.e. rehabilitation approaches) are not clear. It is well known that causes of falls are multifactorial with over 400 risk factors identified. However, it is believed that these factors can be divided into two main classes: intrinsic (e.g. physiological factors) and extrinsic factors. For instance balance dysfunction, spasticity and muscle weakness are physiological risk factors for falls in MS . Behavioral fall risk factors in MS include choosing appropriate footwear, lighting and utilizing appropriate assistive device. There is evidence that both types of risk factors can be minimized with appropriately designed interventions in persons with MS and have been shown to reduce fall risk and incidence in other clinical populations. This has led to calls for the combination of exercise training program that targets specific, modifiable physiological risk factors and educational interventions targeting modifiable behavioral risk factors in persons with MS. However, there is minimal evidence that these interventions in isolation or combination actually reduce fall incidence or risk in persons with MS. This proposal seeks to determine the effectiveness of a combined exercise and educational rehabilitation strategy to prevent falls in persons with MS.

Conditions

• Multiple Sclerosis
• Adult Disease

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Home-based exercise	exercise to look at balance and lower limb strength record in diary
BEHAVIORAL	Education	sessions to discuss self-management ideas to modify risk of falling
BEHAVIORAL	Exercise plus Education	combination of exercise sessions with education sessions to modify fall risk

Timeline

• Start date: 2013-04-01
• Primary completion: 2014-09-01
• Completion: 2014-09-01
• First posted: 2013-10-08
• Last updated: 2014-11-25

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States