Improvement Effect Of Eye Movement Interventions On Stepping Accuracy In Elderly People

Objective:In order to improve the elderly stepping accuracy and effectively prevent the occurrence of falls,this study aimed to carry out eye movement training in healthy elderly people and examine the improvement effect of eye movement interventions on stepping accuracy in elderly people.Methods: Each participant received training twice a week for 20–30 minutes over 4 weeks.The intervention programme was as follows.Weeks 1–2: simple pursuit eye movement,saccadic eye movement,audio-visual training and vestibular eye movement.Weeks 3–4: continuous pursuit eye movement,card search training,audio-visual countermovement training and vestibular eye movement.Results:1.Training engagement of the elderly: in this study,a total of 8 times of training was conducted,and the number of times of engagement of the elderly was 7.46±0.81,indicating a high degree of engagement.2.Improvement of stepping accuracy in elderly people:Compared with pre-intervention,the performance of the elderly in the MTST was significantly improved.After the interventions,the performance time and number of steps were reduced,the numbers of stepping failures and avoidance failures decreased(P< 0.05).Although the number of people who exhibited stepping failures or avoidance failures was reduced after the interventions,the difference was not statistically significant(P> 0.05).3.Improvement of balance function in the elderly:Compared with pre-intervention,The total score of balance test was significantly changed after intervention(P<0.05).Among them,the scores of tandem stand has significant change after intervention(P<0.05),but there was no significant change in the scores of side by side stand and semi-tandem stand after intervention(P>0.05).4.Improvement of visual scanning in the elderly:Compared with pre-intervention,The time spent on completing TMT-A was shortened and the total number of errors was reduced after intervention(P<0.05),indicating that the ability of visual scanning was improved.5.Improvement of attention in the elderly : Compared with pre-intervention,The time spent on completing TMT-B was shortened and the total number of errors was reduced after intervention(P<0.05),indicating that the ability of selective attention was improved.Compared with pre-intervention,Sustained attention scores was reduced after intervention(P <0.05),indicating that the ability of stability attention was improved.6.Improvement of executive function in the elderly:Compared with pre-intervention,The time spent on completing TMT A&B was shortened and the total number of errors was reduced after intervention(P<0.05),TMT B-A was significantly decreased(P<0.05),indicating that the executive function was improved.Conclusion:Four weeks of eye movement intervention can improve the stepping accuracy in the elderly which maybe effectively preventing the occurrence of falls.