Falls Links
May 2025 | Issue 5 |
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Welcome to the May 2025 issue of our newsletter |
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IN THIS ISSUE - 2025 Annual Forum Recap
Research Highlights - Stepping On Updates
- Upcoming Events
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A big thank you to everyone who attended our NSW Fall Prevention & Healthy Ageing Network Annual Forum last Friday (2nd May). It was a fantastic day to meet with colleagues, and make new connections with like-minded individuals who share a passion in improving the health of older people.
Thanks to all of our presenters, who came from a variety of disciplines to cover a range of topics, including 6 plenary speakers, and 20 presentations across community and hospital settings, and ageing services. It was encouraging to see such a large turnout, with almost 350 people attending in-person or tuning in online. If you attended and haven't already, please leave your feedback for our plenary sessions and afternoon sessions/overall forum.
Finally, a special thank you to all of our volunteers who ensured the day could progress smoothly and helped make this year's forum such a success! Slides from plenary presentations are available now (click here), and recordings of forum presentations will be on our website shortly, stay tuned for updates! |
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Strategies to minimize fall-related injuries in older adults at risk of falls: the Falling Safely Training (FAST) study
Zanotto T, Chen L, Fang JR, Tabatabaei A, He J, Bhattacharya SB, Alexander NB, Sosnoff JJ. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2025 Apr 17:glaf076.
DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glaf076 Abstract
Background: Falls are the leading cause of accidental injury among older adults. Current fall prevention programs are useful but do not target the key variable for injury (i.e., impact force). An approach, which has shown promise in robust older adults, is to teach safe-falling strategies to reduce impact forces. In this single-blinded, pilot randomized controlled trial, we explored the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a safe-falling program.
Methods: Twenty-four older adults at risk of injurious falls were randomly assigned either to Falling Safely Training (FAST), a standardized progressive training of safe-falling strategies, or an active control group consisting of evidence-based balance training. Participants underwent a series of experimentally induced falls at baseline, after the 4-week intervention, and three months after the intervention. Hip and head acceleration (proxies of impact force) and the number of head impacts experienced during the falls were collected.
Results: No adverse events were reported, and eleven of 12 FAST participants completed the intervention. The FAST group had a greater reduction in the number of fall-related head impacts following the intervention (odds ratio = 0.10, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.61, p=0.012). This improvement coincided with a significant reduction in head acceleration in the FAST group compared to control (between-group mean difference = -9.54 m/sec2, p=0.028). Hip acceleration decreased significantly in both groups (p's˂0.001).
Conclusion: Teaching older adults at risk of falls safe-falling strategies is safe and feasible and has the potential to minimize fall-related head impacts and reduce fall morbidity.
Read more here |
Effects of exercise programmes delivered using video technology on physical performance and falls in people aged 60 years and over living in the community: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Adliah F, Hall AJ, Goodwin V, Lamb S. BMJ Open. 2025 Apr 30;15(4):e092775
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-092775 Abstract
Objectives: This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesised the evidence and evaluated the effect of exercise programmes delivered using instructional videos compared with control on physical performance and falls in community-dwelling older people aged 60 years and older.
Design: A systematic review and meta-analysis conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.
Data sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, TRIP and PEDro. Grey literature sources included theses and dissertations from Ethos and ProQuest.
Eligibility criteria: Studies were included if they involved community-dwelling older people (aged >60 years) participating in exercise programmes delivered through instructional videos.
Data extraction and synthesis: Treatment effects were estimated using a random-effects model, reporting 95% CIs, mean differences (MD) and standardised MDs (SMD, Hedges' g) for outcomes measured in different units. The risk of bias was assessed using ROB2, and the certainty of evidence was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.
Results: A total of 7487 records were screened, with 16 studies (n=1910) meeting the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis of 11 studies revealed significant effects of video-delivered exercise programmes in lower extremity strength (SMD=0.35, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.59; I2=70.35%, p<0.001, GRADE moderate quality), balance (SMD=0.45, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.83; I2=85.07%, p=0.02, GRADE low quality), mobility (MD=0.96, 95% CI 0.46 to 1.46; I2=53.31%, p<0.001, GRADE moderate quality) and physical performance SMD=0.36, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.56; I2=13.49%, p<0.001, GRADE moderate quality). No evidence of an effect of video-delivered exercise programmes on fear of falling was found (SMD=0.5, 95% CI -0.30 to 1.29; I2=95.48%, p=0.22, GRADE very low quality). There were insufficient data for reporting falls.
Conclusions: Video-delivered exercise programmes improved physical performance, particularly lower extremity strength, balance and mobility, with low to moderate quality evidence. There is uncertainty about the effect of video-delivered exercise programmes on the number of falls, number of fallers and fear of falling.
Read more here
For more fall prevention-related research publications, the NSW Fall Prevention and Healthy Ageing Network collates abstracts each month which can be viewed here. |
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| The next Stepping On training day will be held on the 16th of June.
Visit www.steppingon.com for enquiries or to enroll. Some exciting news. Our falls and mental health pilot trial has been published. Link and PDF attached
If you missed out on the lasted free webinar "Concepts behind an evidence-based falls prevention programme for older people: Stepping On", it has been recorded. Access the webinar here. |
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International Society of Posture and Gait Research World Congress 2025
29 June - 3 July 2025, Maastricht Exhibition & Conference Centre, Maastricht, Netherlands
Rehabilitation Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand 8th Annual Scientific Meeting
20 - 23 July 2025, Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre, Christchurch, New Zealand
1st Asian Falls Network & 4th Fragility Fracture Network of Malaysia Annual Scientific Meeting 2025
12 - 13 September 2025, The Vertical, Connexion Conference & Event Centre, Kuala Lumpur
ANZHFR Binational Hip Fest 2025
6 - 7 November 2025, Rydges Hotel, Melbourne Australia
11th Biennial Australia & New Zealand Falls Prevention Society Conference
23 - 25 November 2025, Sofitel Sydney Wentworth Hotel, Sydney, Australia
3rd World Falls Congress, hosted by British Geriatric Society in association with the World Falls Prevention Society and EU Falls Fest Group
24 - 26 June 2026, Manchester, UK |
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Our vision is to lead the way in fall prevention and other healthy ageing initiatives by harnessing expert knowledge and being collaborative in all we do.
We work closely with researchers, policy makers, health practitioners and community service providers in the development and promotion of healthy ageing services and programs with a focus on preventing falls and fall-related injury.
Our purpose is to support practitioners to improve the lives of older Australians through healthy ageing initiatives with a focus on preventing falls and fall-related injuries. |
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Do you have any news on Fall Prevention or healthy ageing that you want to share with others on the network, or report on a project that is happening in your area. We also welcome suggestions for articles and information you would like to see in this newsletter. Send your news and suggestions to: fallsnetwork@neura.edu.au
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Contact Us: Telephone +61 2 9399 1063 Email fallsnetwork@neura.edu.au
Our mailing address is:
NSW Fall Prevention Network and Healthy Ageing Network
Neuroscience Research Australia
PO Box 1165
Randwick NSW 2031
Copyright © NSW Fall Prevention and Healthy Ageing Network |
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