Assessing balance and gait among patients with lung cancer V1

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Assessing balance and gait in patients following a lung resection versus an age-matched control group

  • IRAS ID

    230623

  • Contact name

    Daniel Tough

  • Contact email

    d.tough@tees.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    Teesside University

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 0 months, 0 days

  • Research summary

    Background

    It is important for cancer patients to undertake exercise and begin rehabilitation as soon as possible following surgery to reduce the negative effects of surgery and pharmaceutical medication (Schmitz, et al., 2008). There has been scarce research assessing balance and gait among cancer patients, both before and after surgery, with even less focusing solely on post-surgical lung cancer populations. Balance has been shown to be impaired in a cancer population (Kneis, et al., 2016), however none of which have assessed patients with lung cancer. Patients with lung cancer also have less confidence in their balance following surgery, which improved with exercise (Hoffman, et al., 2013; 2014).

    Aims

    -To assess whether balance and gait is impaired in post-surgical lung cancer patients compared to an age-matched control group.
    -To assess whether physical activity levels and strength are impaired in patients with lung cancer and are associated with balance and gait
    -To explore post-surgical lung cancer patients’ opinions of their own balance
    -To gain an insight into their preferred method of rehabilitation.

    Methods

    A mixed-method study will be undertaken. 45 individuals (30 patients, 15 controls) will undertake a clinical balance test (Balance Evaluation Systems Test (BESTest)), a lab-based balance test (Force Plate), a gait assessment (GAITRite), knee-extension strength test (Handheld Dynamometer) and complete a Community Healthy Activities Model Program for Seniors (CHAMPS) on one occasion at Teesside University. The lung cancer participants will also undergo a two-part semi-structured interview before and after testing (15 minutes each) to assess their opinion of their balance and to gather an insight into their preferred method of rehabilitation.

  • REC name

    East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    18/EM/0115

  • Date of REC Opinion

    1 May 2018

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion