FAVOR Study - Aging Influences on Balance and Falls
Official Title
Linking Age, Balance, Vestibular Function, and Falls
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to learn how aging in different sensory systems, including the vestibular system (that portion of the inner ear that measures both motion and orientation of the head), influences maintaining balance while standing and walking, and contributes to fall risk.
Could this study be right for you?
- Must be able to stand
- No leg or foot amputations
- No lower limb braces
- Not currently feeling dizzy/lightheaded
- Not currently pregnant by self-report
- Due to potentially nauseogenic nature of some motions and to protect fetus and mother, pregnant women will also be excluded from this study
- Weight <= 275 pounds
- No past or current history of:
- Severe head trauma or traumatic brain injury
- Any vestibular disorder (e.g., Meniere’s Disease, Vestibular Migraine, Unresolved BPPV/BPPN, Vestibular hypofunction, except that due to aging, PPPD) as assessed using clinical diagnostic tests described in proposal
- History of seizures
- Neurologic illness or conditions known to impact vestibular or balance function(e.g., stroke, neurodegenerative disorders, demyelinating illness)
- Major psychiatric (e.g., panic disorder, psychosis, etc.) disorder
- Any of the following eye diseases or conditions: amblyopia (or “lazy eye”) or history of amblyopia, diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration, retina dystrophy, glaucoma, cataracts, or any other eye condition that limits vision to worse than 20/40
- Recent (<6 months) orthopedic injuries of the lower extremities (e.g., plantar fasciitis, ankle, knee or hip injury, back strain/herniated disc, …).
- Upper extremity injuries requiring current sling immobilization
- Recent surgery
- Any other severe health problem (heart disease, pulmonary disease, cancer, etc.).
- Vision in both eyes must be better than 20/40 with best correction
- Outer and/or middle ear pathologies
- Otologic pathologies or diagnoses (e.g. Meniere’s disease, otosclerosis, conductive or mixed hearing losses)
- Must be able to walk unassisted for 30 minutes
- No current use of ambulatory assistive devices
- Normal hearing bilaterally, air conduction pure-tone thresholds ≤ 25 dB HL at all octave frequencies between 250 and 8000 Hz
- Bilaterally, symmetric sensorineural hearing loss with four-frequency pure-tone average (500, 1000, 2000, 4000) less than 71 dB HL
- If interested, please go to go.osu.edu/vestibular to be screened for eligibility