Fall Prevention 561C

OBJECTIVES: We examined older people's attitudes about falls and implications for the design of fall-prevention awareness campaigns. METHODS: We assessed data from (1) computer-assisted telephone surveys conducted in 2002 with Australians 60 years and older in Northern Rivers, New South Wales (site of a previous fall-prevention program; n=1601), and Wide Bay, Queensland (comparison community; n=1601), and (2) 8 focus groups (n=73). RESULTS: Participants from the previous intervention site were less likely than were comparison participants to agree that falls are not preventable (odds ratio [OR]=0...

The following article is a summary of the American Geriatrics Society/British Geriatrics Society Clinical Practice Guideline for Prevention of Falls in Older Persons (2010). This article provides additional discussion of the guideline process and the differences between the current guideline and the 2001 version and includes the guidelines' recommendations, algorithm, and acknowledgments. The complete guideline is published on the American Geriatrics Society's Web site (https://www.americangeriatrics.org/health_care_professionals/clinical_practice/clinical_guidelines_recommendations/2010/)...

BACKGROUND: Frailty is considered highly prevalent in old age and to confer high risk for falls, disability, hospitalization, and mortality. Frailty has been considered synonymous with disability, comorbidity, and other characteristics, but it is recognized that it may have a biologic basis and be a distinct clinical syndrome. A standardized definition has not yet been established. METHODS: To develop and operationalize a phenotype of frailty in older adults and assess concurrent and predictive validity, the study used data from the Cardiovascular Health Study...

BACKGROUND: Previous research investigating exercise as a means of falls prevention in older adults has shown mixed results. Lack of specificity of the intervention may be an important factor contributing to negative results. Change-in-support (CIS) balance reactions, which involve very rapid stepping or grasping movements of the limbs, play a critical role in preventing falls; hence, a training program that improves ability to execute effective CIS reactions could potentially have a profound effect in reducing risk of falling...

BACKGROUND: Compensatory stepping and grasping reactions are prevalent responses to sudden loss of balance and play a critical role in preventing falls. The ability to execute these reactions effectively is impaired in older adults. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a perturbation-based balance training program designed to target specific age-related impairments in compensatory stepping and grasping balance recovery reactions. DESIGN: This was a double-blind randomized controlled trial...

BACKGROUND: Older adults and individuals with neurological conditions are at an increased risk for falls. Although physical exercise can prevent falls, certain types of exercise may be more effective. Perturbation-based balance training is a novel intervention involving repeated postural perturbations aiming to improve control of rapid balance reactions. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of perturbation-based balance training on falls in daily life...

BACKGROUND: Previous studies indicated that a single session of repeated-slip exposure can reduce over 40% of laboratory-induced falls among older adults. The purpose of this study was to determine to what degree such perturbation training translated to the reduction of older adults' annual falls risk in their everyday living. METHODS: Two hundred and twelve community-dwelling older adults (≥65 years old) were randomly assigned to either the training group (N = 109), who then were exposed to 24 unannounced repeated slips, or the control group (N = 103), who merely experienced one slip during the same walking in the same protective laboratory environment...

Falls in older adults are a major health and societal problem. It is thus imperative to develop highly effective training paradigms to reduce the likelihood of falls. Perturbation training is one such emerging paradigm known to induce shorter term fall reduction in healthy young as well as older adults. Its longer term benefits are not fully understood, however. The purpose of this study was to determine whether and to what degree older adults could retain their fall-resisting skills acquired from a single perturbation training session...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate effects of a multifactorial fall prevention program on fall incidence and physical function in community-dwelling older adults. DESIGN: Multicenter randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Three medical centers and adjacent community health centers. PARTICIPANTS: Community-dwelling older adults (N=616) who have fallen in the previous year or are at risk of falling. INTERVENTIONS: After baseline assessment, eligible subjects were randomly allocated into the intervention group (IG) or the control group (CG), stratified by the Physiological Profile Assessment (PPA) fall risk level...

PURPOSE: Of the estimated 1.7 million residents of nursing homes in the United States, approximately half fall annually; and 11% of these sustain injury. This is twice the rate for persons dwelling in the community. By addressing fall risk, physical therapists have an opportunity to reduce falls which are the leading cause of injury deaths, as well as the most common cause of nonfatal injuries for older adults in the United States. This case report examines the effect of a novel interactive video game intervention to address balance dysfunction in an elderly resident of a nursing home who was at risk for falls...