abstract: There is mounting evidence that exercise can reduce falls in frail older people. From a sample group of 81, participants were divided into control and intervention groups. The intervention consisted of three months of supervised ankle strengthening and walking exercises carried out three times a week. Ankle strengthening exercises involved standing upright holding on to the back of chair and slowly raising the heels until the weight is on the balls of the feet. This is repeated 10 to 15 times. Ankle weights were added as performance improved. Subjects then walked for as near to ten minutes as they could tolerate. The intervention group showed significant improvement and this was still apparent three months after the exercise programme finished. The researchers suggest that nursing home staff can easily be trained to use a simple exercise programme that can reduce both the number of falls and the fear of falling.
authors.affiliation: MSc Gerontological Practice, University of Portsmouth.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sander