Pilot Study: Generalization of Improvements in Reactive Stepping Performance in Healthy

According to the Center for Disease Control, 1 in every 3 individuals will fall in their lifetime. Treadmill perturbation training has been a beneficial tool to increase reactive postural control and decrease the amount of falls. This study looked at the extent of the training effects on 29 healthy young adults to evaluate if stepping improvements in one direction could generalize to improvements in the quality of stepping in other directions. Outcome variables of Margin of Stability (MOS), step length, and step latency were evaluated for all 15 participants trained with forward perturbations and 14 participants trained with backward perturbations. From the paired t-tests, there were limited significant improvements in stepping with regards to motor learning and generalization. The only significant outcome was an increase in step length for the participants who trained in the backward direction (p=0.014; p<0.05). However, this significant increase in step length for this backward group did not generalize when the participants stepped in the forward direction post training. From the correlation tests, there was a significant, moderate correlation between motor learning and generalization (rho =0.527, p= 0.043; p<0.05), thus suggesting there may be a relationship between the amount of learning and the amount of generalization observed. Further evaluation of the second step and the foot motion during stepping may reveal more information and explain the changes in stepping to describe how healthy young adults were able to regain balance with each perturbation given.