Background and Purpose: Several measures of fall risk have been previously developed and include forward walking, turning, and stepping motions. However, recent research has demonstrated that backwards walking is more sensitive at identifying age-related changes in mobility and balance compared with forward walking. No clinical test of backwards walking currently exists. Therefore, this article describes a novel clinical test of backwards walking, the 3-m backwards walk (3MBW), and assessed whether it was associated with 1-year retrospective falls in a population of healthy older adults. Diagnostic accuracy of the 3MBW was calculated at different cutoff points and compared with existing clinical tests. Methods: This study was a retrospective cohort study including residents of a retirement community without a history of neurological deficits. Demographics, medical history, and falls in the past year were collected, and clinical tests included the 3MBW and the Timed Up and Go (TUG), the 5 times sit-to-stand, and the 4-square step test. Frequency distributions and t tests compared baseline characteristics of people who reported falling with people who did not. Diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) was calculated for a series of cutoffs for the 3MBW, the TUG (≥8, 10, and 13.5 seconds), 5 times sit-to-stand (≥12 and ≥15 seconds), and 4-step square test (>15 seconds). Receiver operating curve analyses were used to define 3MBW optimal cutoffs, and the difference between the overall area under the curve (AUC) was statistically tested. SPSS 24.0 and MedCalc 17.1 were used for all analyses. Results and Discussion: Fifty-nine adults with a mean (SD) age of 71.5 (7.6) years participated, with 25 people reporting falls in the past year. The mean (SD) time for the 3MBW was 4.0 (2.1) seconds. People who fell had a significantly slower 3MBW time (4.8 vs 3.5 seconds for people who did not fall, P = .015), but not a significantly slower 4-step square test (9.5 vs 8.1 seconds, P = .056), TUG (9.3 vs 8.0 seconds, P = .077), and 5 times sit-to-stand (12.5 vs 10.3 seconds, P = .121). The highest overall AUC for any measure was for the 3MBW at 3.5 seconds (0.707, 95% confidence interval = 0.570-0.821; sensitivity = 74%, specificity = 61%), which was significantly higher than the TUG at 8 seconds (AUC = 0.560, P = .023) and 13.5 seconds (AUC = 0.528, P = .011), the 4-step square test (AUC = 0.522, P = .004), but not significantly higher than the TUG at 10 seconds (P = .098) and the 5 times sit-to-stand at 12 (P = .092) or 15 seconds (P = .276). On the 3MBW, more than 75% of people who were faster than 3.0 seconds did not report any falls, and 94% of people who did not report falling were faster than 4.5 seconds. Of the people who were slower than 4.5 seconds, 81% reported falling. Conclusions: In a study of healthy older adults, the 3MBW demonstrated similar or better diagnostic accuracy for falls in the past year than most commonly used measures. People walking faster than 3.0 seconds on the 3MBW were unlikely to have reported falling, whereas people slower than 4.5 seconds were very likely to have reported falling. Further validation of the 3MBW in prospective studies, larger samples, and clinical populations is recommended.

Marginalized communities have a documented distrust of research grounded in negative portrayals in the academic literature. Yet, trusted partnerships, the foundation for Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), require time to build the capacity for joint decision-making, equitable involvement of academically trained and community investigators, and co-learning. Trust can be difficult to develop within the short time between a funding opportunity announcement and application submission. Resources to support community- and academic-based investigators’ time to discuss contexts, concerns, integration of expertise and locally acceptable research designs and data collection are limited. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Center for American Indian Resilience and the Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative have implemented an internal funding mechanism to support community and academic-based investigators’ travel cost and time to discuss complementary areas of interest and skills and to decide if moving forward with a partnership and a collaborative grant proposal would be beneficial to the community. The rationale and administration of this Community-Campus Partnership Support (CCPS) Program are described and four examples of supported efforts are provided. Centers and training programs frequently fund pilot grants to support junior investigators and/or exploratory research. This CCPS mechanism should be considered as precursor to pilot work, to stimulate partnership building without the pressure of an approaching grant application deadline.

About the accuracy of the lower-body positive pressure treadmill. This study evaluated the accuracy of the BW support reported on the AlterG “Anti-Gravity” Treadmill across the spectrum of unloading, from full BW (100%) to 20% BW. Thirty-one adults (15 men and 16 women) with a mean age of 29.3 years (SD = 10.9), and a mean weight of 66.55 kg (SD = 12.68) were recruited. Participants were weighed outside the machine and then inside at 100–20% BW in 10% increments. Predicted BW, as presented by the AlterG equipment, was compared with measured BW. Significant differences between predicted and measured BW were found at all but 90% through 70% of BW. Differences were small (<5%), except at the extreme ends of the unloading spectrum. At 100% BW, the measured weight was lower than predicted (mean = 93.15%, SD = 1.21, p < 0.001 vs. predicted). At 30 and 20% BW, the measured weight was higher than predicted at 35.75% (SD = 2.89, p < 0.001), and 27.67% (SD = 3.76, p < 0.001), respectively. These findings suggest that there are significant differences between reported and measured BW support on the AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill®, with the largest differences (>5%) found at 100% BW and the greatest BW support (30 and 20% BW). These differences may be associated with changes in metabolic demand and maximum speed during walking or running and should be taken into consideration when using these devices for training and research purposes....

Nd rehabilitation settings. Running at a decreased body weight (BW) reduces metabolic cost, which can be offset by running at faster speeds. To date, however, little is known about how much faster someone must run to offset the reduced metabolic cost. This study aimed to develop a user-friendly conversion table showing the speeds required on an LBPP treadmill to match the equivalent metabolic output on a regular, non-LBPP, treadmill across a range of body weight supports. A total of 20 recreational runners (11 males, 9 females) ran multiple 3-minute intervals on a regular treadmill and then on an LBPP treadmill at 6 different BWs (50–100%, 10% increments). Metabolic outputs were recorded and matched between the regular and LBPP treadmill sessions. Using regression analyses, a conversion table was successfully created for the speeds from 6.4 to 16.1 km·h−1 (4 to 10 mph) in 0.8 km·h−1 (0.5 mph) increments on the regular treadmill and BW proportions of 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100% on an LBPP treadmill. The table showed that a greater increase in speed on the LBPP treadmill was needed with more support (p < 0.001) but that the proportion increase was smaller at higher speeds (p < 0.001). This research has implications for coaches or practitioners using or prescribing training on an LBPP treadmill....

Purpose: Receiving weight loss advice from a health-care provider has been associated with more weight loss efforts and greater odds of achieving weight loss. However, whether patients seek help from their provider or other health professional with weight loss after receiving advice from them to lose weight is largely unknown. Design: Cross-sectional data from the 2011 to 2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Sample: A total of 3862 overweight/obese adults. Measures: Questionnaires asked whether participants received advice to lose weight, and whether they sought health professional’s assistance with weight management. The NHANES 2011 to 2012 was the most recent year both questions were asked. Analysis: Accounting for NHANES sampling and design, frequency distributions characterized demographics and proportions. Logistic regressions estimated odds of seeking weight loss help by demographics. Results: Of 3682 overweight/obese adults, 1908 were told they were overweight or recommended to lose weight. Of 1908 people, 68% reported weight loss efforts, but only health 10.9% sought a health professional’s help (dietician/nutritionist 4.7%, personal trainer 3.0%, doctor 2.8%). Females, people with health insurance and high health-care utilization had 1.5 to 3.5 times greater odds of seeking help; age, ethnicity, and income were not significantly associated with seeking help with weight management. Conclusion: In a nationally representative sample, only 10.9% of overweight/obese adults told to lose weight by a provider sought help from a health professional with weight loss. This underscores the opportunity for greater health professional involvement with weight management beyond giving recommendations.