Urban Health Centres Europe

How would you suggest to build intervention programmes to reduce rate of falls or risk of falling?

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In the Valencia pilot site we have designed and implemented our own intervention programme to reduce risk of falling and falls among elderly. A physiotherapist has collaborated with the Polibienestar team on the programme design and implementation. This collaboration was based on the idea that physical exercise should be supervised by a professional, as well as the programme must be based on exercises that have demonstrated being effective on falls prevention. Moreover, the programme should be carried out at community level in order to ensure the adherence to the intervention.

 

What role have environmental home hazards to reduce injuries?

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The UHCE-Valencia pilot experience didn’t include the environmental home hazards detection as part of the intervention on falls. However, there is evidence to support that home hazards play a relevant role on fall-related injuries among older people, mainly among those with vision problems (Gillespie et al., 2009, 2012).

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What types of physical exercises would you recommend?

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Physical exercise programs consisting of progressive strength training, balance and gait training are associated with an improvement in physical function, including upper and lower extremity strength and mobility (Matsuda et al., 2010). The improvement on these functions is related to a reduction on falls. As an example, the Otago Exercise Program, an evidence-based program that combines strength and balance retraining exercises, has shown to reduce a 35% of falls in high-risk, community-dwelling older adults (Robertson et al., 2002).