The Live Long Walk Strong Rehabilitation Program: What Features Improve Mobility Skills?

This study was a 4 year phase II randomized clinical trial study design. This study will provide important information about the mechanisms that contribute to meaningful improvement in mobility, the benefits of a novel mode of physical therapy care, and the duration of treatment effect.

This study addresses Veterans with slow gait speed beginning in midlife. Slow walking speed is a major health concern for aging Veterans, that independent of disease status, predicts adverse health outcomes. Physical therapy (PT) care is the foundational treatment for slow gait speed, but no standard treatment approach exists. Clinically feasible modes of PT care that provide longer term improvements in gait speed are not established. The investigators developed Live Long Walk Strong , which is a clinically feasible program of PT care that builds upon research identifying novel modes of treatment with greater efficacy than standard care. The investigators have shown proof of concept among civilians and must confirm this among Veterans across a broader age range than was studied previously. Also, it is critical that the investigators define the attributes targeted by which LLWS induces gait speed improvements, not only after treatment ends but after 16 weeks of subsequent follow up. If successful, it will lead to LLWS refinements, establishing it as a rigorously tested model of PT care, that can be implemented across the VHA nationally.