BALANCE IMPROVEMENT IN ELDELY AFTER MOTOR AND COGNITIVE TRAINING Pompeu, JE; Mendes, F; Keith; Alexandra,;Tatiana; Peterson, A; Piemonte, MEP

BACKGROUND MOTOR DEFICIENCY - LACK IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL COGNITIVE DEFICIENCY - DISRUPTION IN EXECUTIVE FUNCTION BALANCE AND GAIT IMPAIRMENT IN DAILY LIVING ACTIVITIES

BACKGROUND REDUCED MOTOR AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION INCREASED IATTENTION IN GAIT SUPERVISION DECREASED EFFICIENCY IN AUTOMATIC MOTOR CONTROL COMPETITION FOR CORTICAL RESOURCES TO CONTROL GAIT AND OTHER TASKS REDUCED ABILITY TO WALK IN MULTI TASK CONDITIONS – FALLS

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of motor and cognitive training versus motor training alone for improving balance and functional performance in elderly.

METHODS PARTICIPANTS – 10 elderly, mean age of 65.7 years (S.D = 8.24), 12 men and 8 women – All participants were asymptomatic for depression and dementia – All participants signed the HCFMUSP informed consent term.

OUTCOME MEASURES PRIMARY – BALANCE TASK SINGLE TASK MULTI-TASK – GAIT SINGLE TASK MULTI-TASK SECUNDARY – BEST

METHODS Elderly underwent a total of 14 (2 per week) motor and cognitive training sessions (MCT). Training session were preceded by 30 minutes of general mobility exercises. Following the warm up, elderly were taken to another room where they trained with the aid of the Nintendo Wii Fit Plus® videogame. This comprised 10 different tasks, performed 5 per session, which elicited different motor responses requiring compensatory and anticipatory balance responses associated with cognitive tasks of attention, memory, perceptual judgment, decision making and response inhibition.

CONCLUSION MCT was found to be efficient for improving balance and gait performance in dual task condition for elderly.

IMPLICATIONS Balance and gait performance in elderly can be improved by stimulating automatic control through training which combines both motor and cognitive tasks.