Falls Links
February 2025 | Issue 2 |
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Welcome to the February 2025 issue of our newsletter |
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IN THIS ISSUE -
Register now to attend the 2025 Annual Falls Forum
- Registration open for the Hunter New England LHD Rural Forum and Exercise Workshop
- New Mini-Review: Landing Safely to Prevent Fall Injuries
Research Highlights - Stepping On Updates
- Upcoming Events
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Register now to attend the 2025 Annual Forum |
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NSW Fall Prevention and Healthy Ageing Network 2025 Annual Fall Forum Friday May 2nd, 2025 Wesley Conference Centre, Sydney
The NSW Fall Prevention & Healthy Ageing Network Annual Forum provides a fantastic opportunity to come together and learn about the latest on fall prevention and healthy ageing. Listen to experts in their field provide an overview of the latest research, advocacy, quality improvement and fall prevention in residential aged care and hospital, and community program initiatives. This forum also provides a fabulous opportunity to network, exchanges ideas and learn from each other.
Registration is now open for general admission and virtual tickets. All tickets include access to recorded video presentations (available following the forum). - General Admission: $90
- Virtual: $45
Draft program: click here Abstracts opening shortly |
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Plenary Speakers include: |
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Prof Pip Logan Professor of Rehabilitation Research and Occupational Therapist at the University of Nottingham and the University of Queensland |
| Prof Cathy Said Physiotherapist and Professor Physiotherapy, Western Health & The University of Melbourne |
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Prof. Ruth Peters Program Lead for Dementia, Global Brain Health Initiative, The George Institute for Global Health
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| Dr Rik Dawson Postdoctoral Research Associate, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health. President, Australian Physiotherapy Association |
| Dr Yoshiro Okubo Research Fellow - Falls, Balance and Injury Research Centre, Neuroscience Research Australia |
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Registration now open! Hunter New England LHD Rural Forum and Exercise Workshop |
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Friday 4th April 2025
The Hunter New England LHD Rural Forum aims to inspire and motivate local healthcare staff to provide high-quality, evidence-based care with a focus on strategies to reduce risk & harm from falls. The aim is to inspire and motivate care staff to provide high-quality, evidenced-based care with a focus on strategies to reduce risk & harm from falls. The program will include: |
- Presentations from keynote speakers
- Fall Prevention initiative updates from the Hunter New England LHD
- Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) Older Persons’ Patient Safety Program
- Consumer perspectives
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Hunter New England LHD - Exercise to Prevent Falls Workshop |
Saturday 5th April 2025 The Exercise to Prevent Falls in Older People Workshop provides attendees with the practical skills to develop evidence-based fall prevention strategies. Who is this course for?
For Health Professionals working with older people. This workshop will help you tailor exercise programs for falls prevention. Workshop Schedule 6 online learning modules to be completed prior to the practical session through our online learning platform.
A 3hr face-to-face practical session including fall risk screening, case study discussions, exercise demonstrations and an opportunity to develop and present an exercise class. |
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New Mini-Review: Landing Safely to Prevent Fall Injuries |
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The NSW Falls Prevention and Healthy Ageing Network team has composed several short reviews on specific topics. The latest review looks at how older people can learn strategies to land safely to prevent fall injuries. The following points are discussed: |
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- Falls and fall-related injuries are a significant concern, with one third of older people falling annually and falls being the leading cause of hospitalised injuries in NSW.
- The way older people fall, including their body position, contact points and stiffness, can determine whether they do or do not sustain an injury.
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Safe landing techniques, such as martial arts-adapted tuck-and-roll techniques and landing while absorbing impact forces (e.g., bending the elbows) show promise in reducing injuries from falls.
- Preliminary evidence suggests that older people can learn safe landing techniques. However, practical applications are limited by safety concerns.
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Proven interventions such as balance and functional strength exercise should remain the priority for fall prevention. Safe landing strategies may complement these approaches for some older people, though more research is required
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| Image adapted from Groen BE et al. BMC Res Notes. 2010 Apr 22;3:111 |
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Is frailty associated with increased concerns about falling and activity restriction in community-dwelling older adults? A systematic review Nicklen B, Delbaere K, Ellmers TJ. J Frailty Aging. 2025 Feb;14(1):100002.
DOI: 10.1016/j.tjfa.2024.100002 Abstract
Purpose: Concerns about falling (CaF) are common in older adults. They are associated with increased risk of falls, activity restriction, social isolation, and physical deconditioning. This systematic review assessed if frailty is a risk factor for CaF.
Methods: Searches of cross-sectional and prospective studies exploring associations between frailty and CaF were conducted across five databases (Medline, CINAHL, Embase, Psychinfo and Scopus). The Risk of Bias in Non-randomised Studies of Exposure (ROBINS-E) was used to determine risk of bias.
Results: The search identified 2492 articles, 12 were included for data extraction: 8 cross-sectional and 4 prospective studies. Participants' mean ages across the different studies ranged from 67.5 - 81.7 years. All adjusted analyses reported a significant association between increasing frailty and CaF, except for one cross-sectional paper. Significant adjusted Odd Ratios (ORs) ranged from 1.79 (CI = 1.18-2.71) to 144.78 (CI = 13.86 - 1512.60) for cross-sectional studies, and from 1.33 (CI = 1.04-1.69) to 12.4 (CI = 7.6-20.1) for prospective studies. Three studies (one cross-sectional and two prospective) explored the association between frailty and concern-related activity restriction: A significant association was reported in two prospective studies (adjusted OR = 1.58 (CI=1.09-2.30) and adjusted RRR = 3.91 (2.61-5.85)), but not the cross-sectional study (adjusted OR = 1.31 (CI=0.62- 2.78)).
Conclusion: This review identifies strong associations between increasing frailty and both CaF and associated activity restriction. This expands previous work describing the opposite association (that CaF can lead to frailty), suggesting a bi-directional relationship. Clinicians working with pre-frail and frail older adults should consider screening for CaF.
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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Numbers are filling up for Stepping On training on March Monday 17th in Sydney!
Megan and her team are available to travel . minimum number of participants required. Queries: www.steppingon.com/contact-us/ |
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International Conference on Frailty and Sarcopenia Research
12th - 14th March 2025, Toulouse, France NSW Fall Prevention and Healthy Ageing Annual Forum 2025
2 May 2025, Wesley Conference Centre, Sydney, Australia
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
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 Falls 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 Falls Prevention Network
Neuroscience Research Australia
PO Box 1165
Randwick NSW 2031
Copyright © NSW Falls Prevention and Healthy Ageing Network |
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