Falls Prevention
Description
The risk of falls is significantly higher in older adults. A fall can lead to serious injury, increased mortality and fragility, and can greatly affect an individual’s confidence in living independently and moving safely at home and within the community
Common Causes of Falls
- Unsteady when walking or poor balance
- Tripping
- Slipping
- Lost balance
- Legs giving way
- Dizziness
- Collapse
Impact on Life
A fall can effect:
Confidence:
- Low confidence leading to isolation as a result of not going out due to fear
Mobility:
- Reduced physical activity due to lack of confidence exercising independently, not knowing what to do. Leading to a decrease in muscular strength, balance and cardiovascular function
- Safety living at home
- If you are having falls at home it can effect how safe it is for you to continue living at home, especially in a house with areas that are easy to fall in or if you are unable to get up on your own
- Hospital admission
- Falls can result in injuries including head knocks which can lead to hospital admissions
- Risk of broken bones
- Falls can lead to broken bones including hip fractures, long recovery times and making it hard to do day to day activities
How Can Exercise Physiology Help?
Exercise Physiology can help to:
- Identify why falls are occurring- this is important to address the issue that is causing the falls
Falls can happen as a result of:
- Putting yourself in poor situations
- Losing balance
- Legs feeling weak and fatigue
- Loss of consciousness
- Lack of leg strength
- External circumstances which can happen from time to time such as slippery substances on the floor, being knocked by someone else etc
- Improve muscular strength of the lower limb including:
- Leg strength: Helps delay fatigue and supports independent movement, such as getting on and off the floor.
- Hip strength: Improves weight transfer and stability during walking.
- Improve Balance to prevent the risk of falling
- Identify a few exercises to practice that will make a big difference to your balance
- By practicing the key exercises that will help you to improve it will make exercise an effective and efficient process that directly reduces the risk of you falling
- Help you to work on exercises to improve your balance and mobility
- Our Exercise Physiologists complete regular home visits helping people to complete a set of exercises specifically tailored to help you reduce your risk of falling
- By having an Exercise Physiologist come to visit we are able to practice exercises that you are unable to do on your own, progress exercises to ensure they continue to be effective and help you to feel confident
- Show you how to safely get up off the floor if you do have a fall
- Being able to safely get up off the ground is a great skill to have
- We can show you how to do this safely, if you are unable to do this on your own we can help you to practice some exercises that will make getting up off the more a much more efficient and easier process
When To Get Help
Generally the best time to get help is as early as possible. However it is never too late to start
If you have had a fall or feel that your balance has recently got worse it is a great time to ask for help.
If you are unsure whether we are able to help you please fill out the form below or call us to discuss what options would be best
How To Get Up Off The Floor
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes- we can contact you provider to organise services through your package. We are able to fit in around current budgets to provide an effective service without impacting your current plan.
Our services under the Support at Home Program do not have any copayments attached and are a fantastic preventative option that help to reduce condition progress and provide people with a way to improve their health and mobility
During our initial appointments we complete a series of tests looking at:
- Balance
- Grip Strength
- Walking
- Standing up from a chair(leg strength)
- Stair use(if possible)
- Aches and Pains
- Other relevant physical tests
These tests give us an indicator of what area needs to be addressed and helps to identify what exercises will help the most.
By prioritising a few exercises it helps to improve exercise adherence, reduce frustration and improve the reward for effort
All of these tests can be improved over time through exercise and they provide an in depth overview of someones physical condition
We will recommend the best option based on the testing results completed in the initial assessment
We see most of our clients on average either weekly or once per fortnight. However we are happy to discuss options based on individual circumstances
During an exercise physiology visit you can expect to compete a number of exercises working on improving the areas you need to improve
Initial Assessment
Questions regarding
- Medical Conditions
- Aches and Pains
- Medications
- Falls History
- Current Exercise Levels
Some tests looking at:
- Balance
- Walking
- Sitting and Standing
- Stair Use
- Grip Strength
- Aches and Pains
From this we recommend how often you would benefit from our services, plus the 3 most important exercises to improve
These tests are done every 6 weeks to monitor improvement and to identify other areas that need to be worked on
During a normal session we usually complete:
- 5-6 exercises working on improving
- These exercises are progressed over the sessions
- We update any home exercises as needed
- Practice completing harder exercises that require supervision eg balance