Effects of a fall prevention program including exercise on mobility and falls in frail older people living in residential care facilities

Impaired mobility is one of the strongest predictors for falls in older people. We hypothesized that exercise as part of a fall prevention program would have positive effects, both short- and long-term, on gait, balance and strength in older people at high risk of falling and with varying levels of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Aging clinical and experimental research 2004-08, Vol.16 (4), p.283-292
Main Authors: Jensen, Jane, Nyberg, Lars, Rosendahl, Erik, Gustafson, Yngve, Lundin-Olsson, Lillemor
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidental Falls - prevention & control
Accidental Falls - statistics & numerical data
Accidental Falls/prevention & control/statistics & numerical data
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cognition Disorders - physiopathology
Cognition Disorders - psychology
Cognition Disorders/physiopathology/psychology
Exercise
Falls
Female
Frail Elderly
Gait
Humans
Injury prevention
Male
Mobility
Musculoskeletal Equilibrium
Older people
Physiotherapy
Postural Balance
Prevention programs
Preventive Medicine - methods
Residential Facilities
Sjukgymnastik
Walking
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Summary:Impaired mobility is one of the strongest predictors for falls in older people. We hypothesized that exercise as part of a fall prevention program would have positive effects, both short- and long-term, on gait, balance and strength in older people at high risk of falling and with varying levels of cognition, residing in residential care facilities. A secondary hypothesis was that these effects would be associated with a reduced risk of falling. 187 out of all residents living in 9 facilities, > or =65 years of age were at high risk of falling. The facilities were cluster-randomized to fall intervention or usual care. The intervention program comprised: education, environment, individually designed exercise, drug review, post-fall assessments, aids, and hip protectors. Data were adjusted for baseline performance and clustering. At 11 weeks, positive intervention effects were found on independent ambulation (FAC, p=0.026), maximum gait speed (p=0.002), and step height (> or =10 cm, p
ISSN:1594-0667
1720-8319
1720-8319
DOI:10.1007/bf03324553