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Commentary
Care of the older person
Combining physical and cognitive interventions positively affects gait in older adults with cognitive impairment
  1. Gary Mitchell,
  2. Victoria McTurk
  1. School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Gary Mitchell, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK; Gary.Mitchell{at}qub.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/ebnurs-2019-103065

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    Commentary on: Zhang W, Low LF, Gwynn JD, et al. Interventions to improve gait in older adults with cognitive impairment: a systematic review. J Am Geriatr Soc 2019;67;381–91.

    Implications for practice and research

    • Gait is not solely a biomechanical process. Cognitive factors need to be considered when employing interventions to improve gait in older people.

    • Physical and cognitive factors affect gait performance, and both should be addressed in intervention programs.

    • To improve gait in older people living with mild cognitive impairment, or the early stages of dementia, gait interventions should include strength, balance and functional mobility training in combination with cognitive control training.

    Context

    The prevalence of gait and balance disorders significantly increases as a person grows older. These …

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @GaryMitchellRN

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.