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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Introduction - During the last decades, there has been a rapid aging of the Portuguese population. The aging process involves several changes namely a decreasing in lower limbs strength, mobility and balance which contributes to increasing the risk of falling and the likelihood to suffer fractures or traumatic brain injuries among other injuries. Physiotherapy can develop an important intervention in identifying the factors that potentiate the risk of falling and can provide strategies to prevent or reverse this risk. The purpose of this study was to characterize the risk of falling and related factors in a sample of Portuguese community-dwelling older adults. Methods - A cross-sectional study. 74 subjects participated in the study (50 women, 24 men), aged 65-97 years, apparently healthy, independent and living in the community. The following tests were used: to assess lower limbs strength the 30s chair stand test; 8-foot up and go test to assess mobility and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) to assess balance. The risk of falling was determined based on BBS. Results - The results of our
study showed that for 30s chair stand test the mean value was 11 repetitions and for 8-foot up and go test was 8.63 seconds. For BBS the median was 53 points. 36.5% of the participants reported at least one fall during the previous year. Negative correlations have been found between 8-foot up and go test and 30s chair stand test (R=0.664; p=0.00) and between 8-foot up and go test and BBS (R=0.653; p=0.00). A weak positive correlation was also found between 30s chair stand test and BBS (R=0.475; p=0.00). Discussion - The results of the 8-foot up and go test (>8,5 seconds) indicate that this population was at risk of falling. In addition, BBS scores
showed that the risk of falling was 11%. Lower limbs strength was decreased compared with reference values for Portuguese population. Assessment of these factors seems to be recommended in order to develop and implement strategies directed to increase lower limbs strength, balance, and mobility and decrease the risk of falling.
Description
Keywords
Physiotherapy Rehabilitation Elderly Lower limbs strength Balance Mobility Berg Balance Scale Portugal
Citation
Fernandes B, Tomás MT, Quirino D. Lower limbs strength, balance, mobility and risk of falling in community-dwelling older adults. In: 21st Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, Vienna (Austria), July 6-9, 2016. In: Baca A, Wessner B, Diketmüller R, Tschan H, Hoffmann M, Kornfeind P, et al, editors. Book of abstracts. Vienna: European College of Sport Science; 2016. p. 690-1.