Falls and Hip Fractures Prevention

Keizo Sakamoto* and Takashi Nagai

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Showa University School of Medicine, Japan

Various measures for preventing falls have been reported. The systematic review and meta-analysis on effective exercise methods aimed at fall prevention conducted by Scherrington et al. [1] provided the valuable findings that balance training involving standing with both feet closer together or on one leg, without any walking, is effective for fall prevention, and that ≥ 50 hours of overall training time is required. The most important factor in fall prevention measures is the continuation of exercise (training). Moreover, the exercise method must be such that the exercise can be continued easily and inexpensively by anyone without the need for various types of equipment. The dynamic flamingo exercise [2], which involves performing single-leg standing with the eyes open for one minute three times daily, exerts a load on the femur that is approximately three times greater than standing on both legs. This exercise is a fall prevention exercise method aimed at improving bone mineral density in the proximal femur as well as balance ability involving the muscles around the pelvis. It is not possible to prevent falls without putting in effort. We believe that continuation of efficient exercise training on a daily basis will contribute greatly to fall prevention, and ultimately lead to fracture prevention.

Bones fracture when a load of a certain amount is applied on the bone. We firmly believe that promoting bone quality in the proximal femur, and additionally balance ability, will lead to reductions in the number of cases of proximal femoral fractures.

References

Sherrington C, Whitney JC, Lord SR, Herbert RD, Cumming RG, et al. (2008) Effective Exercise for Prevention of Falls: A systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Am Geriatr Soc 56: 2234-2243. Sakamoto K, Endo N, Harada A, Sakada T, Tsushita K, et al. (2013) Why not use your own body weight to prevent falls? A randomized, controlled trial of balance therapy to prevent falls and fractures for elderly people who can stand on one leg for ≤ 15 s. J Orthop Sci 1: 110-120.