Residents who exercise are far less likely to suffer falls, an analysis published in JAMDA found.
Researchers reviewed falls intervention studies involving 30,000 eldercare community residents. They found that exercise as a single intervention reduced the number of fallers by 36% and recurrent fallers by 41%.
Residents typically participated in gait, balance and functional training, as well as strength and resistance training. Recurrent falls also dropped when staff were educated on polypharmacy risks.
The findings demonstrate exercise’s critical role in improving function, study author Andrea Iaboni, M.D., Ph.D., wrote.
