Abstract:

Design considerations for technology-assisted fall-resisting skills training trials in older adults: A pilot and feasibility study Training fall-resisting skills can prevent falls in older adults. These fall-resisting skills include proactive gait adaptability, gait robustness, and reactive gait recovery, which allow people to ef...

Our pilot & feasibility study for our RCT is now out @plosone.org The first chunk of Liset's PhD work!

Design considerations for technology-assisted fall-resisting skills training trials in older adults: A pilot and feasibility study

dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

#fallsprevention #BiomechSky #aging

Please consider consulting the included reporting recommendations for your next PBT article!

... a clear idea for some aspect of their trial, so follow the same procedure as a previous publication. Neither are strictly wrong but not transparently stating this means that others struggle to interpret and build on your work.

My personal summary - poor reporting and lacking justifications of protocol choices is currently holding this sub-field of fall prevention back. In many cases, it seems that pragmatic decisions are made but there is a reluctance to report these as such or that the researchers don't have ...

Very pleased to have been involved in this important review led by Nina Marie Schmidt and Pia Ruess. The final version is now published #openaccess at: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#fallsprevention #ageing #reporting

Fall Prevention Through the Lens of a Sprints Coach: Reflections on my ISPGR Promising Scientist Award (PSA) Talk - ISPGR ISPGR was delighted to award Dr Christopher McCrum its 2025 Promising Scientist Award (PSA). In his PSA Plenary Talk at the 2025 World Congress in Maastricht, Netherlands, Dr McCrum reflected on how v...

An excellent and inspiring blog post from our 2025 Promising Scientist Award winner, @chrismccrum.bsky.social.

ispgr.org/fall-prevent...

Excited for Meichan's defence this Thursday!

Download her thesis "Balance and walking in bilateral vestibulopathy" & chapters here: doi.org/10.26481/dis...
doi.org/10.1007/s004...
doi.org/10.31219/osf...
doi.org/10.1007/s004...
doi.org/10.1177/0957...
doi.org/10.1016/j.ga...
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Notes on the margin of stability has made it onto the @jbiomech.bsky.social top cited list 🎉

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Very rewarding to see so many people finding our work helpful! @tombuurke.bsky.social @carolincurtze.bsky.social

What is Balance? A Vital Mechano-Regulation Paradigm Abstract. Within minutes of birth a newborn gnu or giraffe works to stand and walk, asserting postural balance and organised animate behaviour in an apparently goal-directed manner. In contrast, robot...

New paper out on @openmindjournal.bsky.social *

I propose balance is a core biophysical self-regulatory function, organisationally akin to thermo-regulation. Might seem radical off the bat, but by the end of the paper I hope you'll agree it seems pretty obvious.
doi.org/10.1162/OPMI...

Read the latest developments in posture and gait research from our two 2025 early career award winners @chrismccrum.bsky.social and Benjamin Filtjens (not on bluesky). Great work, both! And proud to have you both within our society.

PlosONE publish stage1 as a protocol paper & stage2 as a separate paper. See "Offers option for authors to publish their Stage 1 manuscript in the journal as a separate article (e.g. Study Protocol):" in the list of PCI RR-friendly journals for others here: rr.peercommunityin.org/about/pci_rr...

New article: "Perspectives on interdisciplinary posture and gait research from the ISPGR 2025 World Congress: where do we stand and what are the next steps?"

in which Benjamin Filtjens and I share our reflections on this past @ispgr.bsky.social World Congress

authors.elsevier.com/a/1m9It3RoQ8...

Validity of accelerometer-based analysis of step time and step time variability during treadmill walking in people with bilateral vestibulopathy Gait and balance impairments, including increased gait variability, are prevalent in people with bilateral vestibulopathy (BVP). Wearable acceleromete…

Pleased to share the next publication from our PhD candidate Meichan Zhu:
"Validity of accelerometer-based analysis of step time and step time variability during treadmill walking in people with bilateral vestibulopathy"
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

But the editors can just publish a short editorial highlighting the guidelines for their readership. They don't need to duplicate-publish the full guidelines paper, do they?

Can anyone point me to an explanation/justification why certain reporting guidelines need to be published in multiple journals simultaneously? I get annoyed by the practice every time I need to cite one.
PS - the "need" to reach a wider audience is not relevant in the age of open access publications

The implication of this might be that using self-perceived stability to assess the intensity or progression of training is inaccurate.

New preprint from our PhD candidate Liset, describing results that guided key choices in our upcoming trial of fall-resisting skills training for older adults.
One key finding: older adults' perceptions of their stability during perturbations does not align with expert observations!

Replicability and transparency in physical therapy research: Time to wake up! doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Abstract Objectives Dynamic visual acuity (DVA) can be assessed on a treadmill while walking at different speeds and is used to assess people with bilateral vestibulopathy (BVP). However, the effects and interactions of age, BVP, and walking speed on DVA loss and assessment dropout are unclear. Our objective was to investigate the effects of BVP, age, and walking speed on DVA loss and assessment dropout in participants with BVP and healthy age–sex-matched participants. Methods 41 participants with BVP and 41 age–sex-matched healthy participants completed a treadmill-based DVA assessment, including a static condition at 0 km/h and walking conditions at 2, 4, and 6 km/h. DVA loss was measured as the visual acuity difference between static and walking conditions. The drop-out rate, handrail use, and DVA loss were examined in relation to BVP, age, and walking speed. Results Age significantly increased the odds of dropping out (odds ratio = 1.160, p < 0.001), while BVP did not increase the odds of dropping out (odds ratio = 0.792, p = 0.733). A significant Group*Speed (p = 0.004) interaction effect was found for DVA loss, with DVA loss being significantly worse in people with BVP across all walking speeds, getting progressively worse as speed increased, which was not seen in the healthy participants. Age did not have a significant effect on DVA loss (p = 0.06). Conclusion BVP does not appear to restrict the ability to walk at the higher speeds of a DVA assessment and cause an increase in dropout rate, whereas age does. BVP significantly impacts DVA, with increasing impact at increasing walking speeds.

Dynamic visual acuity in bilateral vestibulopathy and healthy age–sex-matched participants - Journal of Neurology Objectives Dynamic visual acuity (DVA) can be assessed on a treadmill while walking at different speeds and is used to assess people with bilateral vestibulopathy (BVP). However, the effects and inter...

Pleased to share the third publication from our PhD candidate Meichan Zhu's thesis:

"Dynamic visual acuity in bilateral vestibulopathy and healthy age–sex-matched participants"

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Just over 1 week to go until the application deadline!

Looking for a PhD-student position? Eager to work with advanced rehabtech and scalable augmented-reality solutions for fall-risk assessment and treatment? Learn from a team of scientists, Strolll entrepreneurs & developers and clinicians? Love interacting with older adults in NL & BE? Please apply!

New job vacancy!

Joint PhD: Prevent Falls with Augmented Reality (FallAR) at Maastricht & Hasselt Universities
vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...
with me, @melvynroerdink.bsky.social Pieter Meyns & @kennethmeijer.bsky.social

@ispgr.bsky.social @worldfallssociety.bsky.social

New job vacancy!

Joint PhD: Prevent Falls with Augmented Reality (FallAR) at Maastricht & Hasselt Universities
vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...
with me, @melvynroerdink.bsky.social Pieter Meyns & @kennethmeijer.bsky.social

@ispgr.bsky.social @worldfallssociety.bsky.social

What a week it was at #ISPGR2025 last week!

It was really special to have so many amazing colleagues productively interacting in our city (with encouragement from @melvynroerdink.bsky.social)! Thanks to all involved in the planning and organisation @ispgr.bsky.social and all who attended!

All in all a really successful week! Looking forward to #ISPGR2027 in Kyoto!

Amongst all of these sessions, @lisetvdhulst.bsky.social @ahanff.bsky.social, Meichan, Tansu Birinci & Aybike Senel all presented their work performed with us over the last few years!

On Wednesday, I chaired the symposium "Current and emerging approaches to improving balance and gait in vestibulopathy" with talks from Anissa Boutabla, Klaus Jahn, Andreas Zwergal & Max Wühr, & our own PhD candidate Meichan Zhu, who also presented for the third time in the 3MT final.