The effect of single and dual-task balance exercises on balance performance in older adult patients with degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis: A randomized controlled trial

Review written by Dr Mariana Wingood info

Key Points

  1. Older adults with lumbar spinal stenosis are at greater risk for falling.
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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

Among older adults, lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is the most common cause of low back pain (1). LSS can also impact an older adult’s gait and balance, resulting in an increased fall risk. Another example is the deterioration of lumbar proprioception that can result from lumbar muscle dysfunction. As these impairments impact an individual’s balance and risk for falling, it is essential to identify interventions that decrease older adults with LSS risk for falling.

Among individuals without LLS, dual tasking is a fall-prevention intervention with promising results (2,3). Dual tasking is an intervention strategy that has older adults execute simultaneous cognitive and motor performances (2). Insight into how dual-task interventions impact balance and fall risk among patients with LLS is limited.

Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effects of single-task and dual-task balance exercise programs on balance performance and activity-specific balance confidence in adults with LSS.

Lumbar spinal stenosis is the most common cause of low back pain in older adults
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The dual-task exercise program was superior to the single-task exercise program in improving 10-meter walk test scores and walking speed, with or without cognitive dual-tasking.

METHODS

Participants:

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