Validity of IMU sensors for assessing features of walking in laboratory and outdoor environments among older adults.

Introduction: IMU sensors (three-dimensional accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer) enable assessment of walking in older adults outside the laboratory. We studied whether IMUs are valid for detecting walking parameters (step events, time, length, and cadence) in a laboratory and outdoors on a level surface in older adults.

Methods: This validation study is part of a larger cross-sectional study.

Gait Features in Different Environments Contributing to Participation in Outdoor Activities in Old Age (GaitAge): Protocol for an Observational Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: The ability to walk is a key issue for independent old age. Optimizing older peoples' opportunities for an autonomous and active life and reducing health disparities requires a better understanding of how to support independent mobility in older people. With increasing age, changes in gait parameters such as step length and cadence are common and have been shown to increase the risk of mobility decline.

Effects of physical and cognitive training on gait speed and cognition in older adults: A randomized controlled trial.

Gait speed is a measure of health and functioning. Physical and cognitive determinants of gait are amenable to interventions, but best practices remain unclear. We investigated the effects of a 12-month physical and cognitive training (PTCT) on gait speed, dual-task cost in gait speed, and executive functions (EFs) compared with physical training (PT) (ISRCTN52388040).

Promoting safe walking among older people: the effects of a physical and cognitive training intervention vs. physical training alone on mobility and falls among older community-dwelling men and women (the PASSWORD study): design and methods of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Safe and stable walking is a complex process involving the interaction of neuromuscular, sensory and cognitive functions. As physical and cognitive functions deteriorate with ageing, training of both functions may have more beneficial effects on walking and falls prevention than either alone. This article describes the study design, recruitment strategies and interventions of the PASSWORD study investigating whether a combination of physical and cognitive training (PTCT) has greater effects on walking speed, dual-task cost in walking speed, fall incidence and executive functions compared to physical training (PT) alone among 70-85-year-old community-dwelling sedentary or at most moderately physically active men and women.

Perspectives on enhancing international practical training of students in health and social care study programs - A qualitative descriptive case study.

Background: Internationalization of practical training in health and social care study programs is an important aspect of higher education. However, field mentors' and classroom teachers' competence in guiding culturally diverse students varies widely in European countries, and the majority does not have enough training in guiding foreign students.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine which factors enhance the efficacy of international practical placement experiences in health and social care study programs.

Effects of a home-based physical rehabilitation program on physical disability after hip fracture: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Fewer than half of the patients with hip fracture will regain the prefracture level of physical functioning. This secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of a multicomponent home-based rehabilitation program (ProMo) on physical disability after hip fracture.

Design: Randomized, controlled, parallel-group trial.

Effects of a multicomponent home-based physical rehabilitation program on mobility recovery after hip fracture: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To investigate whether a home-based rehabilitation program for community-dwelling older people with recent hip fracture is more effective than standard care in improving mobility recovery and reducing disability.

Design: Randomized, controlled, parallel-group trial.

Setting: Rehabilitation in participants' homes; measurements in university-based laboratory and local hospital.

Walking recovery after a hip fracture: a prospective follow-up study among community-dwelling over 60-year old men and women.

Purpose: Recovery of walking outdoors after hip fracture is important for equal participation in the community. The causes of poor recovery are not fully understood. This study investigates recovery of walking outdoors and associated determinants after hip fracture.

Sense of coherence: effect on adherence and response to resistance training in older people with hip fracture history.

Our aim was to study the effects of sense of coherence (SOC) on training adherence and interindividual changes in muscle strength, mobility, and balance after resistance training in older people with hip fracture history. These are secondary analyses of a 12-week randomized controlled trial of progressive resistance training in 60- to 85-year-old community-dwelling people 0.5-7 years after hip fracture (n = 45; ISRCTN34271567).

Balance confidence and functional balance are associated with physical disability after hip fracture.

Background: This cross-sectional study investigated the associations between balance confidence, functional balance, and physical disability among older people after hip fracture.

Material And Methods: The study utilizes baseline data of two randomized controlled trials (ISRCTN34271567 and ISRCTN53680197). The participants were 159 community-dwelling over 60-year-old people.

Balance confidence was associated with mobility and balance performance in older people with fall-related hip fracture: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To study the relationship between balance confidence, a concept closely related to fear of falling, mobility and balance performance, and perceived mobility limitation in older people after a fall-related hip fracture.

Design: Cross-sectional analyses of pretrial data of 2 randomized controlled trials of physical rehabilitation.

Setting: University research center.

Promoting mobility after hip fracture (ProMo): study protocol and selected baseline results of a year-long randomized controlled trial among community-dwelling older people.

Background: To cope at their homes, community-dwelling older people surviving a hip fracture need a sufficient amount of functional ability and mobility. There is a lack of evidence on the best practices supporting recovery after hip fracture. The purpose of this article is to describe the design, intervention and demographic baseline results of a study investigating the effects of a rehabilitation program aiming to restore mobility and functional capacity among community-dwelling participants after hip fracture.

Physical inactivity and pain in older men and women with hip fracture history.

Hip fracture patients often suffer from pain for several months after surgery. This may lead to physical inactivity and subsequent mobility limitation and disability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between severe musculoskeletal pain and the level of physical activity in older people with a history of hip fracture.

Contribution of musculoskeletal pain to postural balance in community-dwelling people aged 75 years and older.

Background: Balance is among the most important prerequisites for safe and independent mobility. Whether musculoskeletal pain is related to standing balance impairment has received limited attention. The aim of this study was to examine the association of musculoskeletal pain with the control of balance in older people.

Postural balance and self-reported balance confidence in older adults with a hip fracture history.

Background: Balance dysfunction and loss of balance confidence have been associated with functional limitations and loss of independency in daily tasks. This study examined various aspects of postural balance and balance confidence between older adults with a hip fracture history and their non-fractured counterparts. A comprehensive assessment of balance capacity in older adults with a hip fracture history may help to identify aspects of postural balance that play an important role in the mobility recovery and the avoidance of further falls.

Effects of risk-based multifactorial fall prevention program on maximal isometric muscle strength in community-dwelling aged: a randomized controlled trial.

Background And Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the effects of risk-based multifactorial fall prevention program on maximal isometric strength in the community-dwelling aged.

Methods: 591 subjects were randomized in two age groups (65-74 and > or = 75 yrs), intervention group (IG) (n=293) and control group (CG) (n=298). A 12-month program consisted of individual geriatric assessment, individual guidance on fall prevention, home hazards assessment, physical exercises in groups, lectures, psychosocial activity groups, and home exercises.

Effects of resistance training on lower-extremity impairments in older people with hip fracture.

Objective: To study the effects of resistance training on muscle strength parameters, mobility, and balance.

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Research laboratory and senior gym.

Balance confidence and functional balance in relation to falls in older persons with hip fracture history.

Purpose: To investigate whether self-assessed balance confidence and functional balance are associated with falls in older persons with hip fracture history.

Methods: This study is a part of a larger study on functional capacity and exercise rehabilitation in hip fracture patients. Seventy-nine patients, operated at the local hospital for collum or trochanter fracture within one-half to 7 years, participated in the laboratory measurements.

Effects of risk-based multifactorial fall prevention on postural balance in the community-dwelling aged: a randomized controlled trial.

The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of 12-month risk-based multifactorial fall prevention program on postural control of the aged. Five hundred and ninety-one (97%) eligible subjects were randomized into an intervention group (IG) (n=293) and a control group (CG) (n=298). The effects of the program were measured on standing, dynamic, and functional balance.

Surveillance of injury-related deaths: medicolegal autopsy rates and trends in Finland.

Medicolegal autopsies are a vital tool for obtaining reliable injury mortality data. In Finland, medicolegal autopsies have increased from 13.6% of all deaths in 1970 to 23.

Fall incidence in frail older women after individualized visual feedback-based balance training.

Background: The knowledge concerning balance training actually lowering fall rates among frail older persons is limited.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of a 4-week individualized visual feedback-based balance training on the fall incidence during 1-year follow-up among frail older women living in residential care.

Methods: Twenty-seven older women from 2 residential care homes were randomized into exercise (n = 20) and control (n = 7) groups.

Postural balance and health-related factors in middle-aged and older women with injurious falls and non-fallers.

Background And Aims: Older fallers aged over 70 years have shown impaired balance abilities, but it is unclear if impairment in balance control can be detected among fallers who are in their 50's and 60's. The aim of this study was to analyze possible differences in balance control and other health-related factors between female fallers and non-fallers aged 50-68 years.

Methods: Women 50-68 years of age (N=40) who had fallen outside and needed medical attention were recruited through a larger fall accident study.

Changes in postural balance in frail elderly women during a 4-week visual feedback training: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Balance training programs have not shown consistent results among older adults, and it remains unclear how different training methods can be adapted to frail elderly people.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a 4-week visual feedback-based balance training on the postural control of frail elderly women living in residential care homes.

Methods: Elderly women of two residential care facilities were randomized to an exercise group (EG, n = 20) and to a control group (CG, n = 7).