Since December 1997, we have been holding a ”Fall Prevention Program” at the Tokyo Koseinenkin Hospital for the purpose of preventing falls among the elderly people. In the program, first-time participants receive a medical check-up. It includes evaluation of balance functions and Good Walker's Index. Balance functions are determined by measuring the time of one-leg standing and measuring the fluctuation using a gravicorder.
The medical evaluation is followed by an 8-week course of exercise to prevent falls. So far, 150 people consisting of 19 males completed the course, and 131 females whose average age was 71.4 years old.
Those who had a history of falling twice or more in a past year were classified as fallers, while those who had a history of falling once or less were classified as non-fallers. Thirty-one people belonged to the former and the remaining 119 to the latter. In order to examine the relationship between the value estimated by balance tests and falling, the two groups were compared. In physical backgrounds, the average age of the faller was significantly higher than that of the non-faller (73.4 vs 70.8). No significant differences were found between the two groups in height, weight, and degree of visual and hearing impairments and body fat rate. In parameters measured by the gravicorder, the effective value area with eyes opened only had the significant difference. While the time of one-leg standing did not have significant differences between the two groups, there were significant differences in three items of Good Walker's Index (10m-walking time, maximum width of a step, and 40cm-staircase stepping). As falling is an accident that occurs when the body is in motion, Good Walker's Index which is an evaluation method of action seems to evaluate more accurately the tendency of falling than do methods of evaluating static balance function.
View full abstract
