The effects of intrinsic foot muscle strengthening interventions for adults over age 65: a randomized controlled trial protocol
Abstract
Unintentional falls are the leading cause of injury in adults ≥65 years. While causes of falls are multifactorial, weakness or disuse of the intrinsic foot muscles (IFM) can contribute. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial, using an effectiveness-implementation hybrid design, is to analyze the effects of two IFM strengthening interventions (minimal footwear use or strengthening exercises) on IFM size, proprioception, foot structure, and fall risk in older adults. Adults ages ≥65 years, with fall risk, who can ambulate household distances (with an assistive device as needed), will be invited to participate. Individuals with poor foot sensation, vestibular disorders, lower extremity amputation, lower extremity or lumbar spine injury or surgery in the previous 6 months, impaired cognitive ability to follow verbal and written instructions, and those who have participated in a fall prevention program in the past 6 months will be excluded. Participants will be randomly allocated into three groups: prescribed minimal footwear use, IFM strengthening exercises, or control. Participants will be encouraged to perform their intervention 5 days per week for 16 weeks, and then at least 2 days per week from 17 weeks to 1 year. Participants will be asked to record intervention performance, daily step count, and falls in provided diaries. At baseline, 8 and 16 weeks, and 1 year, participants will undergo measurements of IFM cross-sectional area (CSA, cm2) using ultrasound imaging,…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design.
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