Home-based Motor Imagery for Gait Stability in Older Adults. A Cross-over Feasibility Study. (MIGS-F) (MIGS-F)

The motor imagery intervention is a non-pharmacological and non-invasive treatment often used in sport, music, or physical rehabilitation (Schuster, Hilfiker et al. 2011). Proposed tasks to be imagined by the participants are for example:

"Imagine you are walking on ice. During the first steps, you are slipping quite often, but as you walk on, your steps become more stable and you walk without problems over the ice. Try to imagine how you react when you slip on ice, how you try not to fall and to continue to walk normally" The motor imagery intervention will be performed independently by the study participants at home without supervision three times a week for three weeks.

The motor imagery intervention is a non-pharmacological and non-invasive treatment often used in sport, music, or physical rehabilitation (Schuster, Hilfiker et al. 2011). Proposed tasks to be imagined by the participants are for example:

"Imagine you are walking on ice. During the first steps, you are slipping quite often, but as you walk on, your steps become more stable and you walk without problems over the ice. Try to imagine how you react when you slip on ice, how you try not to fall and to continue to walk normally" The motor imagery intervention will be performed independently by the study participants at home without supervision three times a week for three weeks.

Combination of the following three parts:

Part 1: one question about the understandability of the exercises Part 2: one question about the acceptability of the whole study process Part 3: Finishing the whole study: Did the participant finish the whole study, i.e. all three test sessions and at least some session of motor imagery exercises (based on the exercise calendar)?

The "first" endpoint for effectiveness is the change in the Lyapunov Exponent in the three acceleration axes "anterio-posterior", "medio-lateral" and "vertical". The Lyapunov Exponent is calculated based on the 4 times 30 meter walk test in normal speed.

For these tests, the participants wear normal clothes and normal shoes (same shoes at all three test sessions). The test will be performed in a 35 meter long corridor.

The participant starts walking with his normal speed, walks 30 meters and stops. He turns 180°, waits ten seconds and starts walking again the 30 meters. He repeats this until he has four series of 30 meters. The data will be stored after each participant on a portable computer in coded form. The Lyapunov Exponent is then calculated later in R (statistical software) and the mean over all four series is taken.