Fear of falling does not alter the kinematics of recovery from an induced trip: a preliminary study.

Objective: To provide preliminary information about the relationships between self-reported fear of falling (FOF) in healthy community-dwelling women, number of falls, and recovery kinematics in response to a laboratory-induced trip.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: Clinical research laboratory.

Participants: A subset of community-dwelling older women (N=33) recruited from studies of laboratory-induced trips and fall prevention.

Intervention: A laboratory-induced trip.

Main Outcome Measures: Number of fallers in the FOF group versus the control group. Recovery kinematics of FOF group falls versus control group falls, and FOF group recoveries versus control group recoveries were compared. Degree of FOF was assessed by using the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence (ABC) Scale.

Results: Falls occurred in 6 of 14 (43%) FOF and 4 of 16 (25%) control subjects (P=.26). The kinematics of FOF group falls were similar to those of control group falls. At completion of the initial recovery step, the FOF group showed significantly greater trunk extension velocity than controls (-82.1°/s ± -66.1°/s vs -25.0°/s ± -53.0°/s, respectively; P=.05). All other variables were not significantly different. ABC Scale scores of FOF subjects did not differ significantly between fallers and those who recovered (mean, 75.2 ± 5.6, 71.1 ± 11.8, respectively; P=.84).

Conclusion: Healthy community-dwelling older adults would benefit from fall prevention regardless of the presence of self-reported FOF.