Preoperative home-based physical therapy versus usual care to improve functional health of frail older adults scheduled for elective total hip arthroplasty: A pilot randomized controlled trial

Preoperative home-based physical therapy versus usual care to improve functional health of frail older adults scheduled for elective total hip arthroplasty: a pilot randomized controlled trial. Objective: To investigate the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of a home-based intensive exercise program to improve physical health of frail...

Fragility, fear of falling, physical activity and falls among older persons: Some theoretical considerations to interpret mediation

Background: In their letters to the editor, Lacherez et al. [Lacherez, P.F., Wood, J.M., Kerr, G.K., 2007. Does activity level mediate or suppress the association between fear of falling and falls? Prev. Med. 31; (Electronic publication ahead of print)] and Hafeman and Schwartz [Hafeman, D., Schwartz, S., 2007. Assessing mediation: The necessity...

The effects of physical therapists' guidance on improvement in a strength-training program for the frail elderly

Elderly participants experiencing difficulty in chair rising and with a maximum knee-extensor torque below 87.5 N · m were randomized to different versions of a strength-training program for the knee-extensors: to a high-guidance group (HG; two group sessions supervised by a physical therapist and one unsupervised home session per week, n = 17),...

Daily physical activity and the use of a walking aid in relation to falls in elderly people in a residential care setting

Physical activity is usually considered as an important com0ponent of a healthy lifestyle, including a preventive effect on the risk of falls in the elderly. The relationship between physical activity and falls is complex: physical activity is a prerequisite to maintain neuromuscular functioning, necessary to keep balance and to react to a fall,...

Vitamin B-12 status is associated with bone mineral content and bone mineral density in frail elderly women but not in men

Subclinical vitamin B-12 deficiency is common in the elderly. Encouraged by early indications, we investigated the plasma vitamin B-12 status in association with bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) in frail elderly people. Data of 194 free-living Dutch frail elderly (143 women and 51 men) were available. BMC and BMD were...

Prevention of hip fracture by external hip protectors: An intervention in 17 nursing homes in two municipalities in Norway

Aims: This study was undertaken to estimate the effect of hip protectors on the incidence of hip fracture when introduced into nursing homes as a regular part of the healthcare for all residents. Methods: A pre-test/test design was used. The pre-intervention period lasted 18 months from May 1996. The intervention period lasted 18 months from May...