2017 Volume 4 Issue 1 Pages 53-59
【Purpose】The purpose of this study was to investigate whether main fall risk assessment is useful predictor of backward falls.
【Methods】A total of 61 community-living elderly who were able to walk indoors participated in this study. The participants were classified into three groups: Group I included participants who had experienced no falls in the past year, Group II those who had experienced any falls other than backward falls in the past year, and Group III those who had experienced backward falls in the past year. All the participants completed the Five-Times-Sit-To-Stand Test (FTSST) and the Timed Up & Go Test (TUG), and had their normal walking speed and one-leg standing time measured. The foot landing position of the lifting leg in one-leg standing was measured five times, as well as whether landing was forward, backward or middle. The Steel-Dwass method was used for comparing each evaluation result among the three groups. Chi-square of independence test was also used to verify whether the foot landing position in one-leg standing was related to the fall direction.
【Results】In the comparison between Group I and Group III, FTSST was 14.2 ± 4.7s in Group I, 19.4 ± 6.3s in Group III, normal walking speed was 0.8 ± 0.2m/s in Group I, 0.6 ± 0.1m/s in Group III, TUG was 12.6 ± 4.7s for group I and 16.9 ± 5.7s for group III. These three measures indicated significantly lower level in group III (p ＜ 0.05). There were no significant differences between Groups I and II in these measures. Furthermore, no significant differences were observed between the three groups in one-leg standing time. Regarding the landing position of the lifting leg in one-leg standing, no correlations were found between the three groups.
【Conclusion】Currently, it is difficult to predict backward fall only by fall risk assessment that is often used. Backward falls may be more likely to occur in elderly people with decreased leg muscular strength, and lower standing up, walking, and turning ability.
