Tailor-made programs for preventive falls in older adults

Abstract

Falls are relatively common in the elderly, with approximately 30% of individuals aged 65 and older falling at least once a year and approximately half of them experiencing repeated falls. Falls and fractures have a major impact on elderly individuals, their caregivers, health service providers, and the community. Recent systematic review suggested that falls can be prevented by well-designed exercise programs that target balance and involve a good amount of exercise. On the other hand, in daily life, locomotion occurs under complicated circumstances, with cognitive attention focused on a particular task, such as watching the traffic or reading street signs, rather than on performing a simple motor task such as walking. A seminal study demonstrating that the characteristic “stops walking when talking” could serve as a predictor of falls introduced a novel method for predicting falls based on dual-task performance. Recent study indicated that different factors may be related to fall incidents depending on the level of frailty of the community-dwelling elderly adults. These findings suggest that fall prevention programs should be tailored to the elderly adult’s level of physical well-being. The purpose of this review is to review approaches to fall prevention tailored to an individual’s level of physical well-being.