Dance to Reduce Fall Frequency
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Dance to reduce fall frequency and improve balance and strength
IRAS ID
259920
Contact name
Margot Gosney
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 0 days
Research summary
Falls unfortunately commonly occur in older age. One in three people over the age of 70 have a fall every year. Falls can result in injury which may at times be as severe as a fractured bone. In addition, patients often lose confidence after the fall. There is some evidence that dance may reduce the number of falls that a person has. However, no one has previously looked at whether dancing with a partner or without a partner has any advantage over receiving general physiotherapy advice for improving strength and balance. We plan to randomly allocate people who recently had a fall to undertake regular movement exercises by either dancing in a group, dancing with a partner or by standard physiotherapy over a period of 12 weeks. We will be measuring muscle strength, balance and confidence in everyday activities and fear of falls before, during and after the start of the project to see which of the various treatments has benefited the patient most.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/SC/0615
Date of REC Opinion
25 Feb 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion