Balance, Gait, and Falls

Prof. Day’s laboratory focuses on neural processes that control human whole-body actions, and the disorders of these processes that result from damage to the central nervous system and from ageing. The actions of interest include standing, walking, rising from a seat, and reaching; the neurological disorders include Parkinson’s disease, stroke, and cerebellar disease. Of particular interest are the neural processes that combine sensory information from vestibular organs, eyes, muscles and skin to compute the motor instructions necessary for each action, together with the roles played by the cerebellum, basal ganglia, brainstem and cerebral cortex in these computations.

Prof. Stephen R. Lord has published over 400 papers in the areas of balance, gait and falls in older people and is acknowledged as a leading international researcher in his field. His research follows two main themes: the identification of physiological risk factors for falls and the development and evaluation of fall prevention strategies. Key aspects of this research have been the elucidation of sensorimotor factors that underpin balance and gait and the design and evaluation of exercise programs for older people including those at increased risk of falls, i.e. people with Parkinson’s disease, stroke, dementia and frailty. His methodology and approach to fall-risk assessment has been adopted by many researchers and clinicians globally and he is actively engaged in initiatives aimed at implementing falls prevention evidence into policy and practice.