UIC College of Applied Health Sciences Receives Over $4.5 Million to Study Cognitive Motor Balance
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Dr. Tanvi Bhatt, professor of physical therapy at the College of Applied Health Sciences, has been awarded two grants totaling over $4.5 million for research into functional balance intervention and fall prevention. A grant from the U.S. Department of Defense will support a three-year study on functional balance interventions for people with multiple sclerosis, a condition that affects approximately one million adults in the U.S. Bhatt’s study will explore how functional balance training might treat cognitive impairments in multiple sclerosis patients.
A second grant from the National Institute on Aging will support a five-year study on the potential of task-specific balance training to reduce falls in aging adults. The project is a renewal of her previous NIA-funded clinical trial, to investigate the effects of perturbation training on fall risk among older adults. Perturbation training simulates situations in which someone may trip or slip while walking on a specially designed overground walkway. The goal of the study is to increase the accessibility of effective fall prevention training.