Onsite PhD conferral Marissa Hubertina Gertruda Gerards

Keywords: Falls, Older Adults, Physiotherapy, Prevention

"The next step. Pertubation-based balance training and falls prevention in older adults"

Falls present a substantial threat to the health and wellbeing of older adults. The ageing of the population presents an increasing need for effective and efficient falls prevention interventions. Perturbation-based balance training aims to improve the balance recovery reaction after unexpected balance disturbances such as slips or trips. PBT is a promising intervention that may improve balance control and prevent falls in the daily life of older adults. This thesis investigated the effectiveness and applicability of this relatively new intervention in clinical practice. The results in this thesis show that PBT can reduce falls in the daily life of older adults, that PBT is acceptable to older adults and which factors contribute to this acceptability. However, the results show no superior effects on clinical measures balance control in addition to usual care. The findings in this thesis provide important insights in the applicability and effectiveness of PBT in clinical practice.

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