Prevention of falls in elderly osteoporotic women: Conception and effects of an intervention program

Falls can result in physical injuries as well as anxieties about falling an d decreases in physical activities. For elderly osteoporotic people falls a re a serious problem. In the progression of impairment the loss of bone den sity decreases the resistance of bone structure. Prevention of falls is the refore an important task for patients with osteoporosis. Numerous studies d ocument the positive effects of physical activities and exercise on muscula r strength, on balance, and gait; other studies focussed on the efficacy of intervention programs in consideration of the use of medication. But the s tudies did not consider the specific situation of osteoporotic people. In o ur study we focussed on the strengthening of sensorimotor functions, which can be expected in a short period of time and may therefore motivate for lo ng-term intervention programs to increase bone density. This program was ap plied to a sample of 42 osteoporotic women with an average age of 66 partic ipating in a training program for 90 minutes once a week over a period of 1 0 weeks. The effectiveness of the program was assessed by a battery includi ng differential sensorimotor functions. Regarding the initial test results, there were only small differences between the study sample and a control g roup tested with the identical assessment. We used a pre-post-training desi gn which enabled us to control the effects of the training program. Sensori motor functions were tested three times: 3 months before the program starte d, at the beginning and at the end of the intervention program. The signifi cant improvements from the first to the second testing were most likely due to repeated measurement. Further significant improvements, measured at the end of the program, can be interpreted as effects of the training. We conc lude that sensorimotor functions of elderly with osteoporosis could be trai ned effectively in a rather short time.