Older Adult Traditional Balance Training vs Traditional Balance Training Plus Neck Strengthening

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

• Ages 65 years and older
• All sexes
• No healthy volunteers
• Older adult

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.

About this study

Conditions

Aging, Fall Injury Prevention, At Fall Risk

Being tested

Neck Strengthening Exercises

Keywords

physical therapy, fall risk, neck strength, Community Dwelling Older Adults

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

• Neck Strengthening ExercisesOther

  5 minutes of specified neck strengthening exercises two times per week for 6 weeks.

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

1. Peak Cervical Neck Flexion Force

   Peak force (N) for cervical neck flexion captured via a hand held dynamometer. Patient will be sitting in a chair and resist applied force to the center of forehead

   Measured: Baseline testing and at 5 weeks

2. Time to peak force (s) for cervical neck flexion

   Time to peak force (s) for cervical neck flexion captured via a handheld dynamometer. The patient will be sitting in a chair and resisting the applied force to the center of the forehead

   Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

3. Peak force (N) for right cervical lateral flexion

   Peak force (N) for right cervical lateral flexion captured via a hand held dynamometer. Patient will be sitting in a chair and resist applied force to the right side of their head.

   Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

4. Time to peak force (s) for right cervical lateral flexion

   Time to peak force (s) for right cervical lateral flexion captured via a hand held dynamometer. Patient will be sitting in a chair and resist applied force to the right side of their head.

   Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

5. Peak force (N) for left cervical lateral flexion

   Peak force (N) for left cervical lateral flexion captured via a hand held dynamometer. Patient will be sitting in a chair and resist applied force to the left side of their head.

   Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

6. Time to peak force (s) for left cervical lateral flexion

   Time to peak force (s) for left cervical lateral flexion captured via a hand held dynamometer. Patient will be sitting in a chair and resist applied force to the left side of their head.

   Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

7. Peak force (N) for right cervical lateral flexion

   Peak force (N) for right cervical lateral flexion captured via a hand held dynamometer. Patient will be sitting in a chair and resist applied force to the front right side of their head via rotational force.

   Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

8. Time to peak force (s) for right cervical lateral flexion

   Time to peak force (s) for right cervical lateral flexion captured via a hand held dynamometer. Patient will be sitting in a chair and resist applied force to the front right side of their head via rotational force.

   Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

9. Peak force (N) for left cervical lateral flexion

   Peak force (N) for left cervical lateral flexion captured via a hand held dynamometer. Patient will be sitting in a chair and resist applied force to the front left side of their head via rotational force.

   Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

10. Time to peak force (s) for left cervical lateral flexion

    Time to peak force (s) for left cervical lateral flexion captured via a hand held dynamometer. Patient will be sitting in a chair and resist applied force to the front left side of their head via rotational force.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

11. Neck Cervical Repositioning Error

    Measured distance (cm) between the target gaze position and the gaze returning after full neck extension. Gaze is marked via a laser pointer secured to the forehead via a headband. Patients will be seated in a chair with no arm rest with the front of the chair 20 cm away from a wall. Patients will then be instructed to find where they believe is a natural head position. Laser pointer position will be marked on the wall. Patients will then close their eyes, perform full neck extension (till the nose is pointed towards the ceiling), and attempt to find the original neck position with their eyes closed. The laser pointer position is then marked. The distance between the two dots is measured. Angular difference in head position can then be calculated using distance and angular mathematics.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

12. Timing error of gaze during smooth pursuits

    Timing error of gaze during smooth pursuits captured via an instrumented VR headset that tracks eye movements relative to the presented image. A measure of the standard deviation of the tangential error between the participant's gaze and the target's position

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

13. Percentile of timing error during smooth pursuits

    Percentile performance for timing error of gaze during smooth pursuits captured via an instrumented VR headset that tracks eye movements relative to the presented image. Based on normative data of the equipment

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

14. Spatial error of gaze during smooth pursuits

    Spatial error of gaze during smooth pursuits captured via an instrumented VR headset that tracks eye movements relative to the presented image. A measure of the standard deviation of the radial error between the subject's gaze position and the target position.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

15. Percentile of Spatial Error during smooth pursuits

    Percentile performance for spatial error of gaze during smooth pursuits captured via an instrumented VR headset that tracks eye movements relative to the presented image.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

16. Horizontal fixation accuracy during saccadic eye movement

    Horizontal fixation accuracy during saccadic eye movement (rapid eye movement to a presented target) captured via an instrumented VR headset that tracks eye movements relative to the presented image. The average gaze error between the subject's fixations and the target position in the horizontal direction.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

17. Percentile performance for horizontal fixation accuracy during saccadic eye movement

    Percentile performance for horizontal fixation accuracy during saccadic eye movement (rapid eye movement to a presented target) captured via an instrumented VR headset that tracks eye movements relative to the presented image

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

18. Vertical fixation accuracy during vertical saccadic eye movement

    Vertical fixation accuracy during vertical saccadic eye movement (rapid eye movement to a presented target) captured via an instrumented VR headset that tracks eye movements relative to the presented image.The average gaze error between the subject's fixations and the target position in the vertical direction

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

19. Percentile performance for vertical fixation accuracy during vertical saccadic eye movement

    Percentile performance for vertical fixation accuracy during vertical saccadic eye movement (rapid eye movement to a presented target) captured via an instrumented VR headset that tracks eye movements relative to the presented image

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

20. Horizontal fixation precision during saccadic eye movement

    Horizontal fixation precision during saccadic eye movement (rapid eye movement to a presented target) captured via an instrumented VR headset that tracks eye movements relative to the presented image. A measure of the standard deviation of the gaze error between the subject's fixations of both eyes in the horizontal direction.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

21. Percentile performance for horizontal fixation precision during saccadic eye movement

    Percentile performance for horizontal fixation precision during saccadic eye movement (rapid eye movement to a presented target) captured via an instrumented VR headset that tracks eye movements relative to the presented image

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

22. Vertical fixation precision during vertical saccadic eye movement

    Vertical fixation precision during vertical saccadic eye movement (rapid eye movement to a presented target) captured via an instrumented VR headset that tracks eye movements relative to the presented image. A measure of the standard deviation of the gaze error between the subject's fixations of both eyes in the vertical direction.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

23. Percentile performance for vertical fixation precision during vertical saccadic eye movement

    Percentile performance for vertical fixation precision during vertical saccadic eye movement (rapid eye movement to a presented target) captured via an instrumented VR headset that tracks eye movements relative to the presented image

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

24. Center of pressure variability

    Center of pressure variability during a double limb task on a firm surface captured via a force plate.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

25. 95% Ellipse of center of pressure

    95% Ellipse of center of pressure during the double limb 30-second balance task on a firm surface, determined from force plate data.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

26. Average lateral force variability

    Average lateral force variability during double limb task on a firm surface captured via a force plate.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

27. Average anterior force variability

    Average anterior force variability during double limb task on a firm surface captured via a force plate.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

28. Center of pressure variability on Foam

    Center of pressure variability during double limb task on a foam surface captured via a force plate.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

29. 95% Ellipse of center of pressure on Foam

    95% Ellipse of center of pressure during double limb 30-second balance task on a foam surface determined from force plate data.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

30. Average lateral force variability on Foam

    Average lateral force variability during double limb task on a foam surface captured via a force plate.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

31. Average anterior force variability on Foam

    Average anterior force variability during double limb task on a foam surface captured via a force plate.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

32. fall self-efficacy index

    The fall self-efficacy index measures the patients concern about falling during 16 social and physical activities that are part of daily living. Each of the 16 questions are scored values of 1 to 4; with one having no concern at all, 2 somewhat concerned, 3 fairly concerned, and 4 very concerned.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

33. dizziness handicap inventory

    The dizziness handicap inventory (DHI) identifies difficulties that patients may be experiencing because of dizziness for questions about daily life. A follow-up question and the restriction is also assessed. Each of the 25 questions can be answered as Yes (4 points), Sometimes (2 points) or No (0 points). The final score is out of 100.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

34. Time up and Go

    Time up and Go is a basic physical therapist method of testing mobility, balance, walking ability, and fall risk. The duration of time it takes to stand walk 5 meters, turn around and sit back down. Scores less than 10 seconds is considered normal and healthy, while scores exceeding 20 seconds may indicate a high risk of falls.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

35. Dynamic Gait index

    Dynamic Gait index is a clinical assessment of an individual's dynamic balance and gait performance tested via progressive gait tasks. Each task is scored on a 4-point ordinal scale where 0 represents inability to perform the task, and 3 indicates no impairment. Scores of 19 or less is associated with increased fall risk.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

36. 5 times sit to stand

    5 times sit to stand is a basic physical therapist method of testing mobility and strength. Patient will be seated and instructed to stand up fully then sit back down as quickly as possible 5 times in a row. The duration of time it takes to complete the task is measured.

    Measured: Baseline and at 5 weeks

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

1. First posted31 Mar 2026
2. Study start16 Mar 2026 (estimated)
3. Primary completion1 Dec 2026 (estimated)
4. Study completion1 Dec 2026 (estimated)

Resources

• Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
• Publications (5)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
• Other trials for AgingStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
• What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.