Report: Exercise is Best Treatment for the Elderly After Sustaining a Fall

A new report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society reveals that individuals over 65 can benefit considerably from programs that engage in structured exercise training especially when recovering from a fall.

According to the CDC, more than one third of Americans age 65 and older sustain a fall every year. In 2004, almost 15,000 people 65 and over died from unintentional-fall injuries. It is estimated that about 1.8 million seniors in the U.S. sought attention in emergency departments after suffering a fall in 2006. Out of these, 433,000 were hospitalized.

The study compared the usefulness and efficiency of three distinct programs that are tailored for improving the quality of life in the elderly. These programs distinctively were designed to reduce falls and included: enhanced education (ED), home safety assessment and modifications (HSAM), and exercise training (ET). The study was conducted over four months and included one hundred and fifty participants. Secondary end points that were measured included functional balance, day by day activity, worry over falls and baseline depression.

The study was led by Dr. Mau-Roung Lin and Chih-Yi Chen, academics of the Institute of Injury Prevention and Control at the College of Public Health and Nutrition in Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.

The study recruited patients 65 and older that had fallen in the previous 4 weeks and now required medical care assistance. Study volunteers were assigned to one out of three fall-prevention programs (ED, HSAM, or ET), and subsequently evaluated as per the Quality of Life Guidelines of the World Health Organization. These criteria take into account four parameters that include: physical capacity, psychological welfare, social relationships and surrounding environment.