What are the hidden shortcomings of balance training research in older adults that prevent its transfer into practice? Scoping review.

Background: Although a lot of attention is paid to the flaws of balance training research in older adults, the low methodological quality and incomplete reporting of studies still limit the knowledge transfer between research and practice. These known shortcomings are considered also as barriers for creating recommendations for balance training in older adults. Despite the considerable efforts to improve the scientific quality of studies, such recommendations have not yet been formulated to date. Therefore, this scoping review aims (1) to analyze the literature that addresses balance training in older adults, (2) to identify and summarize gaps in the existing literature, and (3) to propose future research on this topic.

Methods: We focused on studies that evaluated the effect of balance training on balance control in apparently healthy older adults over 60 years of age.

Results: Out of 6910 potentially relevant studies, only 26 met the eligibility criteria. The identified shortcomings were as follows: missing a priori criteria for training session attendance and leisure-time physical activities, insufficiently described exercises and training load, and inappropriately chosen tests.

Conclusions: Among the shortcomings of the balance training research, the insufficiently described balance training program and inappropriately chosen tests can be considered the most important. For this reason, even with an excellently designed experiment, it is almost impossible for practitioners to apply the results of such studies into practice. Therefore, researchers should pay more attention to possible users of the acquired knowledge, which is more than desirable in the case of exercise programs for older adults.