A PERTURBATION-BASED INTERVENTION IMPROVES GAIT STABILITY AND COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE IN OLDER ADULTS

Normal aging is associated with decline in both physical and cognitive functions. This contributes to an increased risk for falls, one of the most common and serious problem in late life. Physical exercise can marginally improve balance, gait and cognitive functions. In order to specifically target the neuromuscular skills required for fall prevention, new training paradigms that strengthen the control of compensatory responses after balance perturbations are required. To date, it is unknown if these training paradigms are also able to improve the cognitive functioning.