Vestibular retraining exercises and the impact on falls prevention

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Vestibular exercises and the impact on falls prevention in people with no diagnosed vestibular deficit: A Randomised Controlled Trial

• IRAS ID

  198979

• Contact name

  Hannah Maund

• Sponsor organisation

  St George's University of London

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 3 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Research tells us that the reason people have falls and poor balance is very complicated and is often a combination of factors. One of the systems that your body uses to help maintain balance is called your vestibular system, this is the link between your eyes and inner ears. This is shown to deteriorate as you get older, even if you have no symptoms of this. There is no current research showing whether by retraining the vestibular system as part of a falls prevention programme reduces the risk of falling and improves balance.
  This study aims to determine if retraining of the vestibular system improves balance as part of a falls prevention programme. The research will look at whether the addition of exercises designed to improve your vestibular system in addition to attendance at a falls prevention programme further reduces the risk of future falls. The current falls prevention programme is a weekly 2 hour exercise and educational session for 8 weeks in total. The research would involve participants completing this alongside an additional 1 hour session and completion of approximately 10 minutes of additional exercises on a daily basis. The study will open to all participants of the falls prevention programme run in Camden by Central and North West London Foundation NHS Trust.

• REC name

  London - Brent Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  16/LO/0818

• Date of REC Opinion

  9 Jun 2016

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion