Abstract
Among the patients who have discharged from our hospital with an ability of T-cane gait during the period from April, 1986 to June, 1988, 40 patients experiencing a femoral neck fracture were evaluated with respect to their activities at home. Their mean age was 80.6 ± 6.8 (standard deviation) years old, and the mean duration term from discharge to follow-up period was 414 days.
Next 5 items were interviewed by telephone; (1) walking ability, (2) ability of self-care, (3) pain in the fractured region, (4) experience of falling, and (5) range of their excursion.
On walking ability, 80% of the evaluated patients had ability of out-door gait, and 100% had indoor gait. Many patients could perform their self-cares ; 77.5% of the patients could perform all of three categories of self-cares, namely urination, dressing and bathing.
Regarding to range of their excursion, 77.5% of the patients, which was the same percentage as that before admission, maintained their out-door activities after discharge from hospital. On the other hand, 30% of the patients reduced their activities, mainly due to impairment to utilize the public transportation. Another reason of their reduction in range of excursion is afraid of falls following fractures, because about 20% of patients had fallen one or more times during 414 days.
From this study, it was suggested that hospital staffs including a physical therapist should attempt to arrange their environment and to guide their daily living to avoid further falling.
