Will We Do If We Can? Habitual Qualitative and Quantitative Physical Activity in Multi-Morbid, Older Persons with Cognitive Impairment.

This study aimed to identify determinants of quantitative dimensions of physical activity (PA; duration, frequency, and intensity) in community-dwelling, multi-morbid, older persons with cognitive impairment (CI). In addition, qualitative and quantitative aspects of habitual PA have been described. Quantitative PA and qualitative gait characteristics while walking straight and while walking turns were documented by a validated, sensor-based activity monitor.

"What would you like to achieve?" Goal-Setting in Patients with Dementia in Geriatric Rehabilitation.

Background: Setting meaningful, individualized rehabilitation goals is an essential part of the rehabilitation process. Even though patients with dementia are a drastically increasing patient group in geriatric rehabilitation, empirical data about meaningful rehabilitation goals and collaborative goal-setting in this target group is missing. Cognitive impairment and lack of insight in current deficits have been discussed as barriers for participation in goal-setting, but require empirical examination.

Day-to-day variability of multiple sensor-based physical activity parameters in older persons with dementia.

Objective: To investigate the day-to-day variability of various sensor-based physical activity (PA) parameters and to analyze effects of weekdays vs. weekend days as well as the influence of concomitant factors (gender, living conditions, cognitive status, physical performance, and level of PA) in multi-morbid, older persons with mild-to-moderate stage dementia.

Methods: In 53 participants, PA was recorded on three consecutive days.

Cut-off for the Life-Space Assessment in persons with cognitive impairment.

Background: A version of the Life-Space Assessment in persons with cognitive impairment (LSA-CI) has recently been developed.

Aims: To establish a cut-off value for the newly developed Life-Space Assessment in persons with cognitive impairment (LSA-CI).

Methods: In a cross-sectional study including 118 multimorbid, older persons with cognitive impairment, life-space mobility (LSM) was documented by the LSA-CI.

Transferability and Sustainability of Motor-Cognitive Dual-Task Training in Patients with Dementia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Specific dual-task (DT) training is effective to improve DT performance in trained tasks in patients with dementia (PwD). However, it remains an open research question whether successfully trained DTs show a transfer effect to untrained DT performances.

Objective: To examine transfer effects and the sustainability of a specific DT training in PwD.

Effects of Different Footwear Properties and Surface Instability on Neuromuscular Activity and Kinematics During Jumping.

Lesinski, M, Prieske, O, Borde, R, Beurskens, R, and Granacher, U. Effects of different footwear properties and surface instability on neuromuscular activity and kinematics during jumping. J Strength Cond Res 32(11): 3246-3257, 2018-The purpose of this study was to examine sex-specific effects of different footwear properties vs.

User-Oriented Evaluation of a Robotic Rollator That Provides Navigation Assistance in Frail Older Adults with and without Cognitive Impairment.

Background: Navigational skills decline with age, and this decline is even more pronounced in cognitively impaired (CI) older adults. Navigation assistance is an emerging functionality of robotic rollators (RRs). The evidence on the effectiveness of RR-integrated navigation systems in potential end-users is, however, scarce.

Effects of Drop-height and Surface Instability on Jump Performance and Knee Kinematics.

The purpose of this study was to examine the combined effects of drop-height and surface condition on drop jump (DJ) performance and knee joint kinematics. DJ performance, sagittal and frontal plane knee joint kinematics were measured in jump experienced young male and female adults during DJs on stable, unstable and highly unstable surfaces using different drop-heights (20, 40, 60 cm). Findings revealed impaired DJ performance (Δ5-16%; p<0.

Cognitive Change in Rehabilitation Patients with Dementia: Prevalence and Association with Rehabilitation Success.

Background: Dementia is a frequent diagnosis in geriatric rehabilitation. Studies in patients with dementia on the development of their cognitive status during rehabilitation and its relation to functional outcomes have been scarce.

Objectives: To describe the changes in cognitive status in patients with dementia during inpatient rehabilitation and to determine its association with patient characteristics and rehabilitation outcome.

People with Dementia Can Learn Compensatory Movement Maneuvers for the Sit-to-Stand Task: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: A complex motor skill highly relevant to mobility in everyday life (e.g., sit-to-stand [STS] transfer) has not yet been addressed in studies on motor learning in people with dementia (PwD).

Effects of Supervised vs. Unsupervised Training Programs on Balance and Muscle Strength in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Balance and resistance training can improve healthy older adults' balance and muscle strength. Delivering such exercise programs at home without supervision may facilitate participation for older adults because they do not have to leave their homes. To date, no systematic literature analysis has been conducted to determine if supervision affects the effectiveness of these programs to improve healthy older adults' balance and muscle strength/power.

Development and Validation of a Novel Motor-Cognitive Assessment Strategy of Compensatory Sit-to-Stand Maneuvers in People With Dementia.

Background And Purpose: People with dementia show disease-specific sit-to-stand (STS) movement disorders, which relate to deficits of integrating cognitive aspects of motor processes into motor action organization. During STS training in rehabilitation therapy, compensatory STS movement maneuvers are taught aiming to improve patients' STS ability. Previous clinical STS measures do not address these maneuvers or assess cognitive aspects of their motor action organization.

The FARSEEING real-world fall repository: a large-scale collaborative database to collect and share sensor signals from real-world falls.

Background: Real-world fall events objectively measured by body-worn sensors can improve the understanding of fall events in older people. However, these events are rare and hence challenging to capture. Therefore, the FARSEEING (FAll Repository for the design of Smart and sElf-adaptive Environments prolonging Independent livinG) consortium and associated partners started to build up a meta-database of real-world falls.

Effects of Backpack Carriage on Dual-Task Performance in Children During Standing and Walking.

Primary school children perform parts of their everyday activities while carrying school supplies and being involved in attention-demanding situations. Twenty-eight children (8-10 years old) performed a 1-legged stance and a 10 m walking test under single- and dual-task situations in unloaded (i.e.

Evaluation Studies of Robotic Rollators by the User Perspective: A Systematic Review.

Background: Robotic rollators enhance the basic functions of established devices by technically advanced physical, cognitive, or sensory support to increase autonomy in persons with severe impairment. In the evaluation of such ambient assisted living solutions, both the technical and user perspectives are important to prove usability, effectiveness and safety, and to ensure adequate device application.

Objective: The aim of this systematic review is to summarize the methodology of studies evaluating robotic rollators with focus on the user perspective and to give recommendations for future evaluation studies.

Effects of drop height and surface instability on neuromuscular activation during drop jumps.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether drop height-induced changes in leg muscle activity during drop jumps (DJ) are additionally modulated by surface condition. Twenty-four healthy participants (23.7 ± 1.

Neural Correlates of Dual-Task Walking: Effects of Cognitive versus Motor Interference in Young Adults.

Walking while concurrently performing cognitive and/or motor interference tasks is the norm rather than the exception during everyday life and there is evidence from behavioral studies that it negatively affects human locomotion. However, there is hardly any information available regarding the underlying neural correlates of single- and dual-task walking. We had 12 young adults (23.

Postural Control in Dual-Task Situations: Does Whole-Body Fatigue Matter?

Postural control is important to cope with demands of everyday life. It has been shown that both attentional demand (i.e.

Improvements in gait characteristics after intensive resistance and functional training in people with dementia: a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Preventing and rehabilitating gait disorders in people with dementia during early disease stage is of high importance for staying independent and ambulating safely. However, the evidence gathered in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the effectiveness of exercise training for improving spatio-temporal gait parameters in people with dementia is scarce. The aim of the present study was to determine whether a specific, standardized training regimen can improve gait characteristics in people with dementia.

Test-retest reliability and minimal detectable change of repeated sit-to-stand analysis using one body fixed sensor in geriatric patients.

A majority of geriatric patients experience difficulty in performing sit-to-stand (SiSt) transitions. A detailed assessment of SiSt ability is a prerequisite for successful rehabilitation. Body fixed sensors (BFSs) are increasingly used to assess functional performances.

Definitions and methods of measuring and reporting on injurious falls in randomised controlled fall prevention trials: a systematic review.

Background: The standardisation of the assessment methodology and case definition represents a major precondition for the comparison of study results and the conduction of meta-analyses. International guidelines provide recommendations for the standardisation of falls methodology; however, injurious falls have not been targeted. The aim of the present article was to review systematically the range of case definitions and methods used to measure and report on injurious falls in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) on fall prevention.

Acute and chronic pain in geriatrics: clinical characteristics of pain and the influence of cognition.

Objective: This study aimed to identify which of the well-known characteristics of chronic pain patients are seen even in older patients with multiple comorbidities and considerable functional impairments and how cognition influences patients' reports of acute and chronic pain.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Setting: Inpatients of acute and rehabilitation wards of a German geriatric hospital.