Time to Brush Up on Falls Prevention Knowledge and Skills

The first day of fall, Sept. 22 this year, heralds the National Council of Aging's annual Falls Prevention Awareness Week. PTs and PTAs have long understood the role physical therapy can play in reducing the risk of falls, and fittingly APTA is highlighting that role for this year's National Physical Therapy Month theme.

APTA offers resources to help you optimize your knowledge and skills in falls prevention and management. We also strongly support pending federal legislation that would create resources to help lower the risk of falls for older Americans and military veterans.

National Physical Therapy Month

NPTM tools and downloadable graphics include printable graphics and handouts, tips and instructions for conducting a falls risk assessment, and more.

Ongoing APTA Falls Resources

One place to start is the association's Balance and Falls webpage, which links to resources such as the falls prevention analysis from APTA's landmark report "The Economic Value of Physical Therapy in the Unites States" and a clinical summary on falls risk in community-dwelling older adults.

If you're looking for continuing education opportunities, several courses are available through the APTA Learning Center. From APTA Geriatrics, there is a monograph on management of falls in older adults. APTA Oncology offers three courses related to balance and falls: the effects of chemotherapy, fear of falling during cancer survivorship, and cognitive function in older cancer survivors. The APTA Learning Center also hosts a Veterans Administration course on telerehabilitation's impact on access to falls prevention services.

Recent research also focuses on balance and falls. From PTJ: Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Journal:

• The effect of reactive balance training on falls. Balance training that evokes balance reactions can reduce falls among older adults and individuals with balance problems.
• Perturbation-based treadmill training for older adults. This intervention that safely provokes falls can improve balance recovery and gait performance.
• The impact of greater activity and participation. Older community-dwelling adults had fewer falls when they increased their functional abilities and participation in social roles.

Advocacy for Reducing Falls Risk

APTA supports two important bills pending in Congress:

The Stopping Addiction and Falls for the Elderly Act, or the SAFE Act (H.R. 7618), is aimed at expanding and increasing access to falls screening and prevention in order to reduce the use of opioids that often occur as a result of a fall. Read our position paper: Stopping Addiction and Falls for the Elderly Act. Be sure to also check out the APTA Patient Action Center where you can write to your member of Congress and urge them to co-sponsor the SAFE Act.

The SAFE STEPS for Veterans Act (S. 4556) would establish an Office of Falls Prevention within the Veterans Health Administration, tasked with preemptively identifying and treating veterans at risk of falling. Read our position Paper: SAFE STEPS for Veterans Act.

More Resources

The National Council on Aging has a toolkit for providers to use in recognizing Falls Prevention Awareness Week, Sept. 23-27. The theme is "From Awareness to Action." APTA Geriatrics has a task force liaison with NCOA.

In June, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released recommendations for clinicians in its statement Falls Prevention in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Interventions. Among the recommendations: exercise interventions to prevent falls in community-dwelling adults 65 years or older who are at increased risk for falls.

ChoosePT.com has consumer resources for falls associated with various symptoms and conditions that PTs treat in all patient populations.