A Small-Group Functional Balance Intervention for Individuals with Alzheimer Disease: A Pilot Study

Abstract

This pilot study suggests that a small-group functional balance intervention for individuals with AD is feasible and effective. Although participants had no explicit memory of the program, four of five improved in at least two outcome measures. Larger scale functional balance intervention studies with individuals with AD are warranted.

Physical and functional implications of aquatic exercise for nursing home residents with dementia

“…33 This study supports previous research among institutionalized adults with dementia showing that benefits follow exercise training. 6,7,34 Heyn et al 6 in their meta-analysis of exercise training for older adults with cognitive impairment reported a strong effect for strength, fitness and performance (Effect size ! 0.59).…”

Occupational therapist use of the ‘Timed Up and Go’ test in a Memory Clinic to compare performance between cognitive diagnoses and screen for falls risk

“…This test has very high validity and reliability in older adults (Podsiadlo & Richardson, 1991;Steffen, Hacker, & Mollinger, 2002). It has also been used in adults with dementia (Ries, Drake, & Marino, 2010;Toulotte, Fabre, Dangremont, Lensel, & Thevenon, 2003) and demonstrated to be reliable. Demonstration preceded the test and patients received the same standardised instructions (Podsiadlo & Richardson, 1991).…”

Falls and Fall Prevention in Older Adults With Early-Stage Dementia: An Integrative Review

“…Most were pilot studies with small samples; only one was a large RCT (Mahoney et al, 2007). Interventions included group exercise (Ries, Drake, & Marino, 2010) or home-based exercises either alone (Kovács, Sztruhár Jónásné, Karóczi, Korpos, & Gondos, 2013;Suttanon, Hill, Said, Williams, et al, 2013) or combined with other components (Hagovská & Olekszyová, 2015;Mahoney et al, 2007;Wesson et al, 2013;Yao, Giordani, Algase, You, & Alexander, 2013). The length of exercise interventions ranged from exercise sessions two times per week for 8 weeks to 12 months, to a 6-month home-based program of strengthening and walking.…”

“…Outcomes of studies included falls (Kovács et al, 2013;Mahoney et al, 2007;Suttanon, Hill, Said, Williams, et al, 2013;Tchalla et al, 2013;Wesson et al, 2013), fall risks (Suttanon, Hill, Said, Williams, et al, 2013;Wesson et al, 2013), balance (Hagovská & Olekszyová, 2015;Ries et al, 2010;Suttanon, Hill, Said, Williams, et al, 2013;Yao et al, 2013), gait (Kovács et al, 2013;Ries et al, 2010;Suttanon, Hill, Said, Williams, et al, 2013), and hospitalizations and nursing home admissions (Mahoney et al, 2007). Most studies had non-significant findings, most likely due to small samples.…”