NCT04114331

Feasibility of a Physical Therapy Intervention on Older Adults With Hyperkyphosis or Forward Head Posture

Feasibility of a Post-Hospitalization PT Intervention in Patients With Pneumonia

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 24 (actual)
• Sponsor: The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 50 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The original intent was to use a manual therapy and therapeutic exercise intervention with older patients with pneumonia post-hospitalization. It was hypothesized that the physical therapy intervention would have a positive impact on posture, physical function, pulmonary function, gait, quality of life, and ultimately readmission. This patient population was found to be not feasible to recruit and the study target population was expanded to include older community dwelling adults with pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or hyperkyphosis.

Detailed description

This original study was a feasibility study to determine the ability to recruit and to assess pilot data to determine the effects of a physical therapy intervention on physical function, gait, balance, posture, pulmonary function, and quality of life. Additionally the 30 day readmission, ER visits, and mortality was to be tracked. This study failed due to lack of recruitment. However, the aim to examine the effectiveness a physical therapy intervention was still used just in a broader population. The intervention and measures remained the same except for 30 day admission/mortality data. The new aim was to examine the effectiveness of manual therapy and exercise on posture, function, gait, pulmonary function, and quality of life in older community dwelling adults with hyperkyphosis or forward head posture. Kyphosis, osteoporosis, decreased trunk flexibility, and pain are considered potential causes of restrictive lung function. The physical therapy intervention targets both soft tissue and skeletal restrictions to improve mobility. The outcomes were chosen to examine not only the direct impact on posture but also the indirect impact on physical function including pulmonary status. Lastly, cognitive mapping was used to record the change in the perceptions of the participants as they improved.

Conditions

• Pneumonia
• COPD
• Hyperkyphosis
• Postural, Thoracic Kyphosis

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Manual therapy and exercise	Manual therapy consisting of soft tissue and joint mobilization to gain mobility. Therapeutic exercise was active motion and resisted motion to gain motor control and motor coordination in the new range.

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-02-26
• Primary completion: 2019-04-18
• Completion: 2019-12-20
• First posted: 2019-10-03
• Last updated: 2020-02-05

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States