Pilot Study of Free From Falls Program in Multiple Sclerosis

Pilot Study on the Effect of the Free From Falls Program on Falls in People With Multiple Sclerosis

This pilot study will compare how often people with multiple sclerosis (MS) fall before participating in the Free From Falls (FFF) educational program, during the program, and for 8 weeks after the program. The protocol will also evaluate the accuracy, efficiency and convenience of an email survey to count how often people fall.

This pilot study will recruit people with MS who report falling at least twice in the previous 2 months to participate in the FFF program. All subjects will record their falls and injurious falls on a daily basis for at least 3 weeks before the program, during the program and for 8 weeks after the program. The program will consist of a weekly 2 hour session. One hour of the session will be educational and one hour of the program will involve exercise. The outcome of this study will be change in fall rate between the periods before, during and after the program.

Inclusion Criteria:

• MS of any type
• Age 18 years or older
• Able to walk at least 100 meters with intermittent or unilateral constant assistance (cane, crutch or braces) with or without resting
• Self-reported history of 2 or more falls in the previous 2 months
• Clinically stable MS with no relapses within 30 days
• Willing to provide informed consent
• Fluent in written and spoken English.
• Daily access to email and willing to respond to a daily email questionnaire

Exclusion Criteria:

• Serious psychiatric or medical conditions that would preclude reliable participation in the study.