Project 1:
Older adults: Are gait and balance parameters assessed in the lab comparable with those collected in domestic environment?
Project 2:
Frail older patients: How do sarcopenia, balance and gait deficits, and falls interact?
Project 3:
Prodromal idiopathic Parkinson‘s disease (PD): Can selected gait and balance parameters be used as earliest markers of neurodegeneration?
Project 4:
Developing novel tools from wearable sensor data for neurodegenerative disease management using deep learning techniques.
Project 5:
Shifting the gear on shifiting weight: an analysis of freezing-related balance deficits in advanced PD
Project 6:
How does peripheral neuropathy affect gait and balance in PD?
Project 7:
Older adults: Which factors drive effective training of standing balance?
Project 8:
Older adults at risk of falling: Can a perturbation-based gait training programme prevent future falls?
Project 9:
Older adults who fall: Can a wireless acoustic feedback system prevent falls?
Project 10:
Does methylphenidate treatment in older adults affect attention and motor control during gait initiation under dual tasking situations?
Project 11:
Harmonisation of Keep Control assessment protocols, inclusion of the ICF model as a framework, meta-analysis
Project 12:
Implementation of Internet platform, evaluation of feasibility and users‘ motivation
RESEARCH:
WP2: Better understanding of age-related gait and balance impairments
WP2 aims to provide a fundamental understanding of gait and balance deficits in older adults. Cohorts span from older individuals with relatively preserved gait and balance functions, over frail patients with sarcopenia (i.e., with degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass and function) to three relevant stages of Parkinsonism: prodromal, early clinical and advanced clinical stages. Assessment strategies range from high-end perturbation platforms in the lab to body-worn sensor-based assessment in the home environment, and include histological and body fluid investigations.
WP3: Specific treatments of age-related gait and balance deficits, and falling
WP3 aims to develop new and specific training paradigms for gait and balance deficits in older adults who are at risk for falling, or have already fallen. Assessment approaches range from sophisticated standing and walking balance training approaches, over real-time acoustic feedback balance training to a drug trial investigating the influence on attention during gait initiation. The knowledge generated by these proof-of-principle studies will inform the development of new approaches to rehabilitation for the ageing population.
WP4: Harmonisation of assessments across the network, active involvement of study participants, meta-analysis of obtained data
WP4 will increase integration and sustainability of Keep Control by three actions: Harmonisation of assessments across the network based on the ICF model, meta-analysis of all data obtained within the proposed ETN, and active involvement of study participants through the inclusion of a web-based digital medical record.
