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Topic · Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention

Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention is a research topic within Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation. Science Explorer counts 39k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on gait analysis, fall risk assessment, and interventions for fall prevention in the elderly population. It covers topics such as gait speed, balance control, physical performance measures, and the impact of various factors on fall risk, including age-related changes, neurological conditions like Parkinson's disease, and muscle strength. The cluster also addresses the reliability and validity of assessment tools and the effectiveness of exercise programs for reducing fall incidence.

  • Gait Speed
  • Fall Risk
  • Elderly
  • Balance Control
  • Falls Prevention
  • Physical Performance
  • Parkinson's Disease
  • Postural Stability
  • Timed Up & Go Test
  • Muscle Strength
Research works
39k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+16%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
30% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (2.2k and 1.3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 2.2k works
  2. 2 China 1.3k works
  3. 3 Japan 843 works
  4. 4 Brazil 517 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 478 works
  6. 6 South Korea 442 works
  7. 7 Canada 430 works
  8. 8 Germany 413 works
  9. 9 Italy 395 works
  10. 10 India 369 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 29.7%China: 17.6%Japan: 11.4%Brazil: 7.0%6 others listed: 34.3%30%largest
United States2,185 · 29.7%China1,298 · 17.6%Japan843 · 11.4%Brazil517 · 7.0%6 others listed2,527 · 34.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harvard University publishes the most Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and University of Toronto.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 52 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 47 works
  3. 3 University of TorontoCanada 43 works
  4. 4 University of MichiganUnited States 42 works
  5. 5 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 39 works
  6. 6 United States Department of Veterans AffairsUnited States 39 works
  7. 7 Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 38 works
  8. 8 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 37 works
  9. 9 Yonsei UniversitySouth Korea 34 works
  10. 10 University of PittsburghUnited States 34 works

Who are the leading researchers in Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention include Simon Iain Hay, Ali H. Mokdad and Walter Churchill Willett.

  1. 1 Simon Iain Hay United States 452k citations
  2. 2 Ali H. Mokdad United States 429k citations
  3. 3 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  4. 4 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k citations
  5. 5 Valery L. Feigin New Zealand 341k citations
  6. 6 Mika Kivimäki United Kingdom 318k citations
  7. 7 Graeme J. Hankey Australia 316k citations
  8. 8 Gregory Y.H. Lip United Kingdom 311k citations
  9. 9 Salim Yusuf Canada 294k citations
  10. 10 John Q. Trojanowski United States 286k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention?

The most cited paper in Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention is "Sensitivity and False Alarm Rate of a Fall Sensor in Long-Term Fall Detection in the Elderly" (Maarit Kangas, Raija Korpelainen, Irene Vikman et al., 2014), with 18,953 citations. Next come "The Timed “Up & Go”: A Test of Basic Functional Mobility for Frail Elderly Persons" (14,583) and "A Short Physical Performance Battery Assessing Lower Extremity Function: Association With Self-Reported Disability and Prediction of Mortality and Nursing Home Admission" (9,940).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Sensitivity and False Alarm Rate of a Fall Sensor in Long-Term Fall Detection in the Elderly Maarit Kangas, Raija Korpelainen, Irene Vikman et al. · Gerontology 13 Aug 2014 18,953
2 The Timed “Up & Go”: A Test of Basic Functional Mobility for Frail Elderly Persons Diane Podsiadlo, Sandra K. Richardson · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society Feb 1991 14,583
3 A Short Physical Performance Battery Assessing Lower Extremity Function: Association With Self-Reported Disability and Prediction of Mortality and Nursing Home Admission Jack M. Guralnik, E. M. Simonsick, Luigi Ferrucci et al. · Journal of Gerontology Mar 1994 9,940
4 Risk Factors for Falls among Elderly Persons Living in the Community Mary E. Tinetti, Mark R. Speechley, Sandra F. Ginter · New England Journal of Medicine 29 Dec 1988 6,593
5 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities Barbara E. Ainsworth, William L. Haskell, Stephen D. Herrmann et al. · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 16 Jun 2011 6,392
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention research done?

The largest centres of Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention research in 2022-now are Tokyo (Japan), Beijing (China), Seoul (South Korea) and Shanghai (China).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 TokyoJapan 213 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 202 works
  3. 3 SeoulSouth Korea 180 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 143 works
  5. 5 São PauloBrazil 103 works
  6. 6 MelbourneAustralia 95 works
  7. 7 LondonUnited Kingdom 92 works
  8. 8 TehranIran 88 works
  9. 9 TorontoCanada 82 works
  10. 10 SydneyAustralia 76 works
See Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention on the map

Where is the best place to study Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention?

Among universities, judged by research, Shanghai University of Sport, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Beijing Sport University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 21.14%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Shanghai University …Beijing Sport Univer…Radboud University N…Hong Kong Polytechni…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Shanghai University of SportChina 75.125.9%43.4×24 +130.9%
2Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 73.615.9%4.6×38 +48.9%
3Beijing Sport UniversityChina 73.025.2%31.7×20 +673.5%
4Radboud University NijmegenNetherlands 71.517.3%5.8×33 +8.8%
5Harvard UniversityUnited States 68.412.8%1.7×52 +4.0%
6Sichuan UniversityChina 68.125.1%1.2×26 +143.4%
7Stanford UniversityUnited States 65.520.8%1.6×22 +54.2%
8Shandong Sport UniversityChina 64.929.2%71.5×9 +282.5%
9McMaster UniversityCanada 62.217.3%4.2×23 +24.7%
10University of VeronaItaly 61.821.9%6.0×13 +34.8%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention, country by country

Is Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 16% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.039% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention0.052% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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