The Department of Geriatrics at the University of Oldenburg and the Klinikum Bremerhaven Reinkenheide, under the direction of Dr. Svenja Tietgen, are conducting a group intervention in geriatric inpatient (acute) rehabilitation at the Rehazentrum Oldenburg and the Klinikum Bremerhaven Reinkenheide to investigate the feasibility and acceptance of the so-called "Square-Stepping Exercise" and "treadmill-based perturbation training" (only in Oldenburg) in these settings.

The Square-Stepping Exercise involves walking and learning grid patterns on a carpet with 4x10 boxes. This training was developed in Japan for independently living older people to improve hip and leg strength and has been shown to improve brain performance, as well as learning to lunge after a tripping event, reducing the risk of falls.

The treadmill-based perturbation training, which is additionally carried out at the Rehazentrum Oldenburg on the Balance Tutor, can perturb your gait under safe conditions. The participants learn how to react to unexpected disturbances in their gait. During the training, the participants are secured by a belt system.

The aim is to define suitable participation criteria for the "Square Stepping Exercise" and the "treadmill-based perturbation training" for (acute) rehabilitation. In addition, we want to obtain information about the feasibility of the group format.