Trial of home exercise for older adults who fall is done; results pending

A trial at Bangladesh Medical University that tested home exercise for older adults who keep falling has been added to the US government’s public trial registry, ClinicalTrials.gov, and is listed as completed¹. The record, first posted on 13 November 2026, says 125 people took part. It also says no results have been posted yet¹.

The study asked a practical question: can a structured program of leg-strengthening and balance exercises done at home help older people stand, move and balance better, and feel less afraid of falling, compared with carrying on as usual¹?

What happened

The trial ran at Bangladesh Medical University in Dhaka, which was formerly called Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University¹. According to the registry, it started on 5 April 2025 and finished collecting its main data on 20 January 2026¹. The university is listed as the sponsor¹.

The record was first made public after that date, so this entry describes a study that has already been done. It is not an announcement of a new one¹.

The researchers wrote that falls, weaker muscles and balance problems are common in older adults. They said these problems can make daily tasks harder to do alone, limit how people get around, and feed a fear of falling and poorer mental well-being¹. They added that home programs may be a practical option, especially for people who find it hard to get to a rehabilitation center¹.

How the trial worked

The study was a randomized controlled trial: people were assigned by chance to one of two groups, so the groups could be compared fairly¹. Everyone was aged 60 to 75 and had a history of repeated falls, along with difficulties with balance or getting around¹.

• Exercise group: a supervised home-based program focused on strengthening the leg muscles and improving balance¹.
• Comparison group: people kept to their usual daily activities and routine care, without the structured program¹.

The registry lists two main measures, each compared from the start of the study to 12 months later¹:

• Balance, rated with a scoring system called the Berg Balance Scale¹.
• Leg function, using the Five Times Sit-to-Stand Test, which measures how quickly a person can stand up from and sit down on a chair five times¹.

The team also used standard questionnaires to track fear of falling, frailty, anxiety and depressive symptoms¹. The researchers’ stated expectation was that the exercise group would improve more in physical performance and balance, and would become less afraid of falling, than the comparison group¹. That is a hypothesis, not a finding.

What it does not show yet

No results are public. The registry entry says results have not yet been posted, so there is no information on whether either group changed, by how much, or whether anyone was harmed¹.

Several other details cannot be judged from the record alone:

• Falls themselves are not a main measure. The two main measures are a balance score and a chair-stand test¹. Better scores on these tests would not by themselves show that people fell less often.
• The program details are thin. The registry describes the exercises only as home-based muscle-strengthening and balance training. It gives no public detail on how often people exercised or for how long¹.
• The timeline is unclear. The main measures are listed at 12 months after enrollment, but the dates show about nine and a half months between the trial’s start and its main completion date¹. The record does not explain how these fit together. The full results or a published paper may clarify this.
• Who it applies to. The study involved people aged 60 to 75 with repeated falls in one city¹. Results may not apply to older, frailer people or to those who have not fallen.

Who is behind it

The only sponsor named in the registry is Bangladesh Medical University itself¹. The record does not list a company, a product or any outside funder¹. The exercise is described as a training program rather than a drug or device, and the trial is marked as having no drug-style phase¹.

How it fits the field

Home exercise to prevent falls has been studied for years, and the Bangladesh trial joins a fairly crowded field. A 2023 review in the journal Research, Society and Development looked at 11 studies of home exercise programs for older people published between 2013 and 2023². Six reported positive results on how often people fell during the programs, and five reported improvements in physical function². The authors concluded that exercises that build physical performance are a good choice for preventing falls in this group. They also called for more studies to fill gaps².

Smaller trials have looked at the same outcomes the Bangladesh team measured. In Iran, 39 older adults were randomly assigned to one of two home exercise programs, Otago or Fit-and-Fall Proof, or to a comparison group³. The exercise groups trained three times a week for eight weeks, in 60-minute sessions³. The authors reported that both exercise groups improved in standing balance and fear of falling compared with the comparison group. The Fit-and-Fall Proof program also did better on balance while moving and on quality of life³. With only 39 people over eight weeks, that study was small and short.

Practical hurdles also come up repeatedly. A Thai trial at Mahidol University, which enrolled 439 people aged 65 and over, set out to test a simpler home program⁴. Its registry entry explains why. The well-known Otago program, tested in four controlled trials in New Zealand, needs training by skilled nurses or physical therapists and has 17 step levels⁴. The researchers also noted that some studies found people stick to fall-prevention programs as little as 10 to 40% of the time⁴. That Thai trial counted falls over a year as its main measure, and used the same five-times chair-stand test to decide who could join⁵. Its registry entry also shows no posted results⁴, though the review lists a 2017 journal paper by the same lead researcher on a 12-month trial of a simple home program for fall prevention².

The Bangladesh trial adds data from a country that is less often represented in this research. Its focus on fear of falling, anxiety and low mood alongside physical tests also stands out, since the researchers pointed to fear of falling and psychological well-being as part of the problem¹.

What to watch next

• Posted results or a paper. The most important next step is for the team to share the balance, chair-stand, fear-of-falling and mood results for both groups¹.
• How big any differences are. Small changes on test scores may matter less to daily life than larger ones. The size of any gap between groups will matter more than whether one exists.
• Whether people stuck with it. Given past concerns about low adherence to fall-prevention programs⁴, how many people kept doing the exercises will help show whether a home program like this is practical.
• Falls and safety. Any reported falls or injuries during the study would add context, since falls themselves were not listed as a main measure¹.

Biohack will update this thread when results appear.