Fall-prevention Measures for Community-living Elderly: Effectiveness of Simple Floor Marking Training

Abstract

Abstract

In this study, floor-mark training was given to participants to examine its effectiveness in preventing falls, and fall prevention measures through which such training could be easily incorporated were implemented. This training was based on multi-target stepping (Yamada et al. 2013), a task in which participants must accurately choose and walk over multiple targets. For this study, targets in three different colors were placed along the participants’ usual route in their homes, which they then had to step on accurately and sequentially. The participants were 118 healthy older adult residents of Region A, who were not certified as needing nursing care (mean age 77.2 ± 6.45 years). Of these, 59 were allocated to the intervention group and underwent floor mark training. The remaining participants were allocated to the control group. Participants in the intervention group underwent floor-mark training for over 1 year, whereas those in the control group continued their lives normally. The following findings were observed in the intervention group: a significant improvement in Mini-Mental State Examination scores and a significant decrease in the time difference between single- and dual-task walking. In the floor-mark training, participants simultaneously worked on two tasks: a walking task (primary task) and an attention task (secondary task). The findings indicated that the training activated the participants’ attention, which may lead to improved cognitive function and thereby prevent falls. Moreover, this study found that engaging in floor-mark training as a secondary activity prevents falls. It was therefore considered that training can be incorporated into simple and easy-to-use fall prevention and health improvement methods.