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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. 29.5% 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%
11k
per year above
Top-10% rate
29.5%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+25%
the tick is no change

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 (1.9k and 939 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 1.9k works
  2. 2 China 939 works
  3. 3 Japan 723 works
  4. 4 Brazil 451 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 389 works
  6. 6 South Korea 365 works
  7. 7 Canada 363 works
  8. 8 Italy 327 works
  9. 9 Germany 317 works
  10. 10 Australia 295 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: 30.8%China: 15.6%Japan: 12.0%Brazil: 7.5%6 others listed: 34.2%31%largest
United States1,851 · 30.8%China939 · 15.6%Japan723 · 12.0%Brazil451 · 7.5%6 others listed2,056 · 34.2%

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

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

By volume in 2022–2025, Hong Kong Polytechnic University publishes the most Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention research, followed by University of Illinois Chicago and University of Pittsburgh.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityHong Kong 31 works
  2. 2 University of Illinois ChicagoUnited States 30 works
  3. 3 University of PittsburghUnited States 29 works
  4. 4 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 29 works
  5. 5 University of MichiganUnited States 27 works
  6. 6 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 27 works
  7. 7 Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands 26 works
  8. 8 Yonsei UniversitySouth Korea 25 works
  9. 9 KU LeuvenBelgium 22 works
  10. 10 Universidade Federal de Minas GeraisBrazil 20 works

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

The most-cited researchers publishing on Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention include Li Fei-Fei, Sharon E. Straus and Daniel S. Peterson.

  1. 1 Li Fei-Fei United States 17k citations
  2. 2 Sharon E. Straus Canada 6k citations
  3. 3 Daniel S. Peterson United States 5.3k citations
  4. 4 Luigi Ferrucci United States 5.3k citations

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

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

The largest centres of Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention research in 2022–2025 are Tokyo (Japan), Beijing (China), Seoul (South Korea) and Shanghai (China).

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Tokyo Japan 182 works
  2. 2 Beijing China 160 works
  3. 3 Seoul South Korea 150 works
  4. 4 Shanghai China 109 works
  5. 5 São Paulo Brazil 90 works
  6. 6 Melbourne Australia 81 works
  7. 7 London United Kingdom 74 works
  8. 8 Tehran Iran 73 works
  9. 9 Toronto Canada 69 works
  10. 10 Sydney Australia 67 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, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam 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%60%mean 37.02%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Shanghai University of Sport: 16, 50.9%Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam: 26, 38.2%Beijing Sport University: 14, 48.1%Hong Kong Polytechnic University: 31, 36.4%University of Nebraska at Omaha: 13, 37.7%Hasselt University: 10, 30.1%Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw: 9, 33.7%University of Phayao: 11, 41.4%University of Illinois Chicago: 30, 31.2%University of Central Florida: 20, 22.5%Shanghai University …Beijing Sport Univer…Vrije Universiteit A…Hong Kong Polytechni…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Shanghai University of SportChina 73.850.9%32.6×16 +152.7%
2 Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamNetherlands 62.638.2%7.6×26 +8.0%
3 Beijing Sport UniversityChina 59.348.1%23.1×14 -12.9%
4 Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityHong Kong 58.736.4%4.0×31 +2.0%
5 University of Nebraska at OmahaUnited States 57.637.7%18.8×13 +62.5%
6 Hasselt UniversityBelgium 57.330.1%12.9×10 +88.3%
7 Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in WarsawPoland 56.833.7%54.4×9 +162.3%
8 University of PhayaoThailand 56.641.4%25.9×11
9 University of Illinois ChicagoUnited States 55.531.2%6.8×30 +8.5%
10 University of Central FloridaUnited States 53.822.5%6.0×20 +325.5%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 25% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

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.