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Geriatrics research

Everything we have read on geriatrics. Each paper is summarised from the full article rather than its abstract, so the limitations are in there too, and the funding wherever the paper declares it.

1,442 PAPERS · PAGE 28 OF 29 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOTRCT2026Effects of an Exercise-Assisting Mobile App (Osteoarthritis-Rehabilitation Assistant [O-RA]) on Rehabilitation Outcomes in Older Adults: Randomized Controlled Parallel Clinical Trial.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesOlder adults using the O-RA motion-analysis app completed significantly fewer knee exercises than those given standard instructions. The app acted as a barrier, not a facilitator, due to instability, WiFi requirements, and difficulty using the interface.
• PTOTRCT2026Effects of Sanqi Shengyu External Application Cream and Pulsed Electromagnetic Field on Knee Osteoarthritis in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapyFor older adults with knee osteoarthritis, adding a herbal cream or electromagnetic therapy to daily exercise reduced pain and improved function. Combining both treatments provided the best long-term results. Exercise alone also helped, but the combined therapy maintained pain relief better over time.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2025Physiological and psychological therapeutic effects of telerehabilitation treatment on patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of physical therapy scienceTelerehabilitation for COPD is slightly worse than face-to-face rehab for walking distance but better for anxiety and depression. Use it when travel is a barrier, but expect smaller gains in physical endurance compared to clinic-based programs.
• PTOTSLPCohort2026Changing Patterns of Psychotropics Use Among Older Adults With Intellectual Disability Over a Decade, With a Focus on Designated Mental Health Conditions.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARIDPsychotropic use remained high in older adults with intellectual disability over a decade. Antipsychotic and sedative use dropped, while antidepressant use rose. Many people taking these drugs had no diagnosed mental health condition, but did have behaviours of concern.
• PTOTSLPOther2026Exoskeleton frontal and sagittal plane hip torque improves propulsion and transient stability during walking in individuals with hemiparesis.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn eight people with hemiparesis, a hip exoskeleton widened step width and improved stability markers as abduction torque increased. Sagittal-plane assistance boosted non-paretic propulsion but not paretic. These immediate mechanical changes need testing in real-world falls and walking speed.
• PTOTOther2026Acute effects of upper-limb blood flow restriction training on dual-task postural control and physiological correlates in older adults.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding blood flow restriction to arm exercise improved balance during a dual-task in older adults. Reaction time and accuracy did not change. The benefit was limited to postural control, not the cognitive part of the task.
• PTCohort2026Prognostic profiles for discharge destination identified during intensive care unit admission: a decision tree analysis.Journal of rehabilitation medicineSimple ICU variables identified discharge profiles. APACHE II score under 20 with ICU stay under 8.3 days had 86% probability of home discharge. FSS-ICU below 5 with APACHE II 20 or higher had 18%.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2026The effect of combined motor and cognitive rehabilitation on motor performance in Parkinson's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of rehabilitation medicineCombined motor and cognitive training did not clearly improve functional mobility over motor training in Parkinson's disease. Sequential protocols reported an improvement in daily activities; simultaneous protocols reported better quality of life, but evidence was limited.
• PTOTSystematic Review2026Functions and Sensors of Smart Walkers From 2015 to 2024: Scoping Review.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesSmart walkers use many sensors, but most were tested in labs with younger adults without symptoms. Gait and balance measurements were often not checked against reference systems, so they cannot yet guide clinical decisions.
• PTOTSLPSurvey2026Trends in Rehabilitation Insurance Benefit Exhaustion Among Older Adults in the United States and Associations With Racial Identity.Physical therapyIn 2022, 27.9% of older adults who completed rehabilitation reported exhausting insurance benefits. Rates fell since 2015, but after adjustment Non-Hispanic Black adults had a 9.3 percentage point higher estimated chance of reporting exhaustion than Non-Hispanic White adults.
• PTOTSLPCohort2026The Prevalence of Infection and Sepsis Associated Dysphagia in Hospitalised Patients: A Retrospective Cross-sectional Study.DysphagiaSepsis and infection were associated with new-onset dysphagia in hospitalised patients. Sepsis carried a higher risk than infection alone. Older patients and those with dementia, delirium or Parkinson's disease were most likely to develop swallowing difficulties during admission.
• PTOther2026Perceived Exertion, Neuromuscular Activation, and Training Volume in Older Adults: Validating RPE-1 in Moderate-Velocity Elastic Band Resistance Training.International journal of sports physical therapyIn active older adults, rating effort at the first repetition of a band military press predicted how many reps they could do and tracked muscle activation. Higher first-rep effort meant fewer reps, but heart rate and blood pressure were similar when sets went to failure.
• PTSurvey2026Roles in Kayoino-ba and their relationship with Ikigai, functional ability, and frailty in older adults.Journal of physical therapy scienceOlder adults who organised or ran community group activities scored higher on a purpose-in-life measure, moved faster, had stronger grip and were less often frail than those who only attended. The study cannot tell whether the roles caused this.
• PTPilot2026Effect of home-based rehabilitation in frail older adults after cardiac surgery: a prospective feasibility study.Journal of rehabilitation medicineFrail older adults after cardiac surgery improved from 5.5 to 8.6 on a 12-point physical function scale over six weeks of home exercise, but those who completed the most sessions did no better than those who completed the fewest.
• PTSLPQualitative2026Exploring the Barriers and Facilitators to Physical Activity Behaviour in Older Adults With Intellectual Disabilities: Lessons From and for a Co-Design Study.Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDROlder adults with intellectual disabilities in one care home said pain, fear of falling and past bad experiences stopped them moving. What helped was doing activity with someone else, encouragement and compliments, and activities matched to their interests rather than being told to exercise.
• PTOTOther2026Psychosocial Factors Are Rarely the Focus of Rehabilitation After Hip Fracture: A Short Report of Routinely Collected Health Data.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapyIn 100 people rehabilitating after hip fracture, only 4 of 231 therapy goals were about psychosocial functioning, and only 3 patients had such a goal. Of 17 screened as at risk of anxiety or depression, 9 had nothing documented to address it.
• PTOther2026Cognitive decline outweighs adiposity in influencing lower limb gait kinematics in older adults.Gait & postureThinking scores tracked how the 30 older adults walked far more than their body fat did. Fatness showed up only at the ankle, so weight on its own does not explain the walking patterns in this group.
• PTRCT2026Cueing-assisted gamified augmented-reality home rehabilitation for gait and balance in people with Parkinson disease: feasibility and effectiveness in the clinical pathway.Physical therapyIn 92 people with Parkinson disease, a home augmented-reality exercise platform was feasible and well liked, and Timed Up and Go improved by 0.34 seconds. That is below the threshold considered clinically important, and the trial had no control group.
• PTCase Report2026Floor-Hugging intervention: findings from an exploratory study of a novel floor-exposure and post-fall contingency program.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesA six-session floor-exposure and floor-rising programme was feasible and safe for 8 healthy middle-aged adults. Balance, floor-rising and turning improved and held at 3 weeks. Concern about falling and quality of life did not change. With no control group, the programme cannot be credited.
• PTProtocol2026A balance assessment and training protocol to address balance disorders in older and neurologically disabled adults.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesNo results yet from the protocol described here. Its precursor found that the worse someone's balance, the less accurately they tracked a moving target and the further they stayed from their balance limits. The training itself has not been tested against anything.
• PTSurvey2026Relationship between fall experience and fear of falling, health literacy, and self-efficacy among community-dwelling older adults.Journal of physical therapy scienceOlder adults who feared falling had lower confidence in their ability to keep exercising (12.19 versus 13.99 on four items rated 1 to 5), while having actually fallen showed no such link. Exercise knowledge scores were much the same in every group.
• PTOTPilot2026Feasibility, acceptability, and functional outcomes of a home-based exergaming telerehabilitation program for adults with functional disabilities: a multi-center single-arm pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA caregiver-supervised home exergaming programme was feasible: 9 of 10 participants exercised on more than 70% of days and no falls or adverse events occurred. Functional gains were seen but are uncontrolled, and everyone kept having usual outpatient rehabilitation.
• PTOther2026Effect of stride count on the validity and reliability of autocorrelation-based gait variability variables in older adults requiring long-term care.Journal of physical therapy scienceCounting more strides changes the gait variability value a trunk accelerometer gives you. Two strides drifted far from the 10-stride reference, and repeat walks only agreed with each other at 7 to 9 strides, more than the usual six.
• PTCohort2026Feasibility of Physical Fitness Measurements in Older Adults With Intellectual Disabilities Within Two Large Cohort Studies: The HA-ID and IDS-TILDA Study.Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDRThese four fitness tests are feasible in large studies of older adults with intellectual disabilities. Grip strength was easiest to complete; full tandem balance and the step test were hardest. Severe or profound intellectual disability and wheelchair use were the main barriers.
• PTProtocol2026Effects of Whole-Body Electromyostimulation on the Thickness of Appendicular and Respiratory Muscles, Functionality, and Frailty in Patients From a Transitional Care Unit: A Randomized Clinical Trial Protocol.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapyNo results are reported yet. This is the published plan for a trial of whole-body electrical stimulation added to physiotherapy in a transitional care unit, so it cannot tell you whether the treatment works.
• PTPilot2026Inter-rater reliability of the instrumented lean-and-release (iLEAN) test for manual assessment of reactive balance: a pilot study in simulated older adults.Journal of physical therapy scienceTwo assessors using a hand-held device got similar scores for how much lean a person could recover from, best in the backward direction. Findings come from 16 healthy young women wearing weights to mimic older bodies, not from older patients.
• PTCohort2026Peer Exercise Leaders Can Accurately and Reliably Rate Intensity of Older Adult Exercisers With the Balance Intensity Scale: A Prospective Cohort Study.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationVolunteer peer exercise leaders judged older adults' balance exercise intensity almost as closely as an expert, and agreed with each other closely, after one 90-minute online session. Two weeks later their ratings had drifted lower and were less accurate but their confidence had not dropped.
• PTCohort2026Multidimensional Assessment of Fall Risk Using the Timed Up and Go Test and Complementary Measures in a Charcot-Marie-Tooth Type 1A Neuropathy.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationThe Timed Up and Go test did not tell apart people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 1A who fell from those who did not. Median times stayed near 9 seconds whatever the fall history, so TUG alone cannot screen this group for falls.
• PTSLPCohort2026Relationship between vestibular alterations and cognitive performance in adults and older adults.CoDASPeople with abnormal vestibular test results scored worse on attention, perception, arithmetic and verbal memory. Everyone was tested once, so the study cannot show whether the vestibular problem or the cognitive problem came first, and older age was itself linked to poorer memory.
• PTCohort2026Tracking Sarcopenia and Physical Activities Among Korean Adults Aged 50 Years and Older During COVID-19 Pandemic.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapyIn 50 Korean adults aged 50 and over, sarcopenia rose from 18% to 28% and grip strength fell from 24.73 to 22.77 kg between 2019 and 2021. High-intensity work and exercise dropped sharply while sitting time rose.
• PTSLPOther2026Clinical investigation protocol for tinnitus (CIP-t): development and validation of an instrument.CoDASHearing loss (70 of 83) and emotional factors (71) were the commonest causes this new tinnitus protocol flagged. Applying it took about 90 minutes; somatosensory and metabolic causes were less frequent. It maps likely causes; it does not test whether treatment works.
• PTSurvey2026Social frailty and appetite status and their associations with physical, nutritional, and lifestyle factors in community-dwelling older women attending a day-care service.Journal of physical therapy scienceOver half of 45 older women at one day-care centre met the criteria for social frailty. They had less muscle mass, poorer muscle quality on a body-composition measure, and more medications, and more lived alone. Nutrition and appetite scores did not differ.
• PTOTCohort2026Falls and Fall-Related Injuries and Hospitalizations in Autistic Older Adults: A Medicare Data Study.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceNearly half of autistic Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and over had a fall, against about a third of matched non-autistic peers, with around twice the odds of falling and more repeated fall injuries.
• PTOTSystematic Review2025A Systematic Review of the Effects of Therapeutic Exercise With Psychological Interventions on Disability and Personal Outcomes in Older Adults.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationAdding motivational interviewing or CBT to exercise more often improved older adults' participation and confidence than their strength or walking, but many trials found no difference and the trials were too varied to draw firm conclusions.
• PTRCT2025Intensity-Dependent Effects of Low-Frequency Subthreshold rTMS on Primary Motor Cortex Excitability and Interhemispheric Inhibition in Elderly Participants: A Randomized Trial.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairTwo doses of low-frequency rTMS to the motor cortex did not clearly change cortical responses to stimulation in 20 healthy older adults. Post hoc tests hinted 90% of resting threshold raised responses and 80% lowered them, but neither differed from sham.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2025Several components of postural control are affected by benign paroxysmal positional vertigo but improve after particle-repositioning maneuvers: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical rehabilitationRepositioning maneuvers improve the tilted sense of verticality and the extra sway that BPPV causes when vision or several senses are challenged, but not one-leg stance or older adults' limits of stability.
• PTRCT2025The effects of microprocessor prosthetic knee use in early rehabilitation: A pilot randomized controlled trial.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationWith a new above-knee amputation, a microprocessor knee did not give significantly better walking and mobility test scores than a standard knee. Users did report better mobility, balance confidence and community reintegration, but only 15 people finished the study.
• PTMeta-Analysis2024Effectiveness of sensor-based interventions in improving gait and balance performance in older adults: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationSensor-based training with biofeedback outperformed traditional exercise on walking and balance tests in older adults, but average gains were small. The Timed Up and Go and gait speed improvements fell short of what patients would notice, and wearable sensors showed no clear benefit.
• PTSystematic Review2022Feasibility and Safety of Physical Exercise to Preserve Bone Health in Men With Prostate Cancer Receiving Androgen Deprivation Therapy: A Systematic Review.Physical therapyExercise looks feasible and safe for men having androgen deprivation therapy, though adherence varied from 43% to 96.3% and most trials recruited fewer men than planned. Thirty adverse events were attributed to exercise; three were severe, all during football training.
• PTSystematic Review2023Systematic Review to Inform a World Health Organization (WHO) Clinical Practice Guideline: Benefits and Harms of Structured Exercise Programs for Chronic Primary Low Back Pain in Adults.Journal of occupational rehabilitationNo single exercise type clearly beat the comparison on its own. Pooled across all types, exercise probably eases pain and improves function in the weeks after the programme ends, but the average benefit is small and most individual type comparisons were uncertain.
• PTOther2024Impact of tailored message notifications for frailty prevention in older adults: a quasi-randomized controlled study using a regression discontinuity design.Journal of physical therapy scienceOne tailored letter a year to older adults flagged as pre-frail or frail did not clearly improve frailty scores a year later. Small gains appeared only when missing answers were ignored, and disappeared when they were filled in.
• PTMeta-Analysis2024Effectiveness of exercise intervention on physical and health outcomes in patients admitted to an acute medical ward: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical rehabilitationExercise on an acute medical ward improved patients' walking fitness and muscle strength, but it did not change balance, length of stay, falls, readmissions or deaths. Evidence certainty was low, so results are promising rather than settled.
• PTRCT2024Emergency Department-Based Physical Function Measures for Falls in Older Adults and Outcomes: A Secondary Analysis of GAPcare.Journal of geriatric physical therapy (2001)Taking longer over the Timed-Up-and-Go, or being unable to do it, went with being admitted or sent to a nursing home rather than going home after an ED fall visit; AM-PAC six clicks scores followed the same pattern. No measure predicted a fall-related ED visit.
• PTSystematic Review2022A Systematic Review on the Association Between Vestibular Dysfunction and Balance Performance in Children With Hearing Loss.Ear and hearingAcross 20 studies, children with hearing loss who had vestibular dysfunction generally scored worse on balance tests than those with normal vestibular function. The studies were small, unblinded and used inconsistent tests, so the size of the link is unclear.
• PTSystematic ReviewPhysical Therapist Management of Patients With Suspected or Confirmed Osteoporosis: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the Academy of Geriatric Physical Therapy.Journal of geriatric physical therapy (2001)For postmenopausal women, exercise's effect on bone density is small and depends on the exercise type and bone site. Seated strength training and exercise combinations are supported; jumping and vibration platforms are not. Evidence in men is too thin to recommend anything.
• PTMeta-Analysis2023Effects of balance training on balance and fall efficacy in patients with Osteoporosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis with trial sequential analysis.Journal of rehabilitation medicineBalance training improved balance and reduced fear of falling in people with osteoporosis, mostly women. On the Timed Up and Go, trained groups were 1.86 seconds quicker; one-leg standing time was 4.10 seconds longer. Trials were small.
• PTRCTFour Square Step Test Performance in Hip Fracture Patients.Journal of geriatric physical therapy (2001)Four months after hip fracture, 13 of 40 patients could not attempt the Four Square Step Test and 74% of those who did took longer than 15 seconds. Left-side fractures were slowest, especially when visual cognition was poor.
• PTOTSystematic Review2023Association Between Patient and Facility Characteristics and Rehabilitation Outcomes After Joint Replacement Surgery in Different Rehabilitation Settings for Older Adults: A Systematic Review.Journal of geriatric physical therapy (2001)After hip or knee replacement, older adults rehabilitating in inpatient rehabilitation facilities tended to have better function, fewer complications and shorter stays than those in skilled nursing facilities, which cost less. One study found no difference in motor scores.
• PTSystematic Review2023Effectiveness of exercise programmes in improving physical function and reducing behavioural symptoms of community living older adults with dementia living in Asia, and impact on their informal carers: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Hong Kong physiotherapy journal : official publication of the Hong Kong Physiotherapy Association Limited = Wu li chih liaoA pooled analysis of two studies found better balance on a simple reach test, but no balance gain on a multi-item scale, and no change in walking mobility or leg strength. Behavioural and carer results were mixed across nine small Asian studies.
• PTSLPSystematic Review2024Are Current Data Sufficient to Infer that Hearing Aids Contribute to Postural Control and Balance in Older Adults? A Systematic Review.Folia phoniatrica et logopaedica : official organ of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP)The evidence is too weak to say hearing aids improve balance or prevent falls in older adults. Of eight studies, five found better balance with aids and three found no difference, but the studies were of limited quality.