OBJECTIVE: To determine whether plantar perception training using a hardness discrimination task efficiently improves stabilization of standing posture balance in the old old as well as the very old. DESIGN: A randomized two-group parallel controlled trial. SETTING: Nursing homes. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-six elderly persons 75 years of age or older living in nursing facilities were randomly assigned evenly to either an intervention or a control group. INTERVENTION: The intervention group was given a task to discriminate hardness differences while standing on foam rubber of different levels of hardness, while the control group was given the task to simply remain standing on foam rubber. The tasks were imposed for 10 successive days. OUTCOME MEASURES: Outcome assessment was made by determinations of centre-of-gravity sway in the standing position and the Functional Reach Test. RESULTS: Planter perception was significantly improved and centre-of-gravity sway in the standing position was also significantly reduced in the intervention group after the intervention. In the control group, however, there were no significant changes in perception or in sway (p < 0.01) There was a significant difference in the Functional Reach Test values between the two groups: an increment of 12.3 +/- 10.1 cm in the intervention group versus 2.3 +/- 5.8 cm in the control group (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: These results suggested that plantar perception exercises might efficiently stabilize standing postural balance in the old old as well as the very old.

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