• Journal of vocational education research
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.89-111
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine the elderly care facilities worker's attitude and awareness of associated factors of falls. The subject was 194 the elderly care facilities workers in Chungbuk. Descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient was utilized for the data analysis. The results of this study were as follows. the score of attitude was $2.98{\pm}.34$ out of 4, the score of awareness of associated factors was $3.00{\pm}.43$ out of 4. There were statistically significant differences of attitude and awareness of associated factors of falls according to general characteristics. the relationship of attitude and awareness of associated factors of falls was significantly positive. Falls is important health related problem in elderly care facilities, so effective fall prevention program is needed for elderly care facilities worker.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.19-24
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• 2011

Background: The elderly are likely to fall due to physical and mental atrophies, and experiencing falls may result in fear of falls and lack of self-confidence, which also leads to hesitation to physical activities and changes in walk and balance, the major variables in independent daily life. Methods: In three senior citizen centers located in D city, 22 elderly women aged 65 or older were chosen, and they filled in the questionnaire which included their agreement to voluntarily participate in the survey and medical histories. As to whether they had falls experience, the medical history items in the questionnaire asked them if they had falling down or falls once a year, twice for the three years. The objects were divided to NFE (non-falls experience) and FE (falls experience). Results: 1. As to walking abilities, significant difference was found between NFE and FE regarding walk width, stepping with two feet, and stride length while there was no significant different in terms of cadence. 2. As to balancing abilities, was significant difference between NFE and FE in terms of the physical body center area. As to the sit-to-stand, tandom gait test, no significant difference was found, and neither in the timed up and go test. Conclusions: The elderly with falls experience has inferior walking and balancing abilities to those without falls experience, and thus they are more exposed to the risks of falls.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.302-310
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• 2010

Purpose: A comprehensive analysis of demographical, disease, functional status and fall risk related factors identified factors associated with falls in elderly hypertensive. Method: A descriptive research design was used. The participants were 124 persons aged 65 years or older registered at the community center in Daegu city. The data were collected from October, 2008 to February, 2009. Frequency, Fisher's exact test, $X^2$-test, t-test, and logistic regression were done using the SPSS V17.0. Results: Ninety (72.6%) subjects had experienced falls. The occurrence differed according to number of medications, activities of daily living and competence of vision. Logistic analysis revealed number of medication and impaired vision as independent risk factors for subsequent falls. Conclusion: Supportive nursing for the elderly needs to focus on dizziness and impaired vision to prevent falls in community-dwelling elderly with hypertension.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.141-149
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify risk factors of accidental falls by age in the Korean elderly. Methods: The study subjects included 10,242 community-dwelling elders aged 65 or over. The data were analyzed by logistic regression analysis. Results: The risk factors of accidental falls in the younger old group (aged 65~74) include fear of falling (OR=16.28, 95% CI: 12.03~22.03), depression (OR=1.24, 95% CI: 1.06~1.44), and hearing impairment (OR=1.20, 95% CI: 1.01~1.43). The risk factors of accidental falls in the older old group (aged 75~84) include fear of falling (OR=11.54, 95% CI: 7.04~18.93), muscle strength (OR=1.36, 95% CI: 1.15~1.60), number of chronic disease (OR=1.65, 95% CI: 1.09~2.50), and presence of spouse (OR=1.27, 95% CI: 1.06~1.51). The risk factors of accidental falls in the oldest old group (aged 85 years old or older) include fear of falling (OR=8.05, 95% CI: 1.85~34.98) and exercise (OR=2.91, 95% CI: 1.36~6.24). Fear of falling is defined as a common factor in the all age groups. Conclusion: Different strategies should be developed for age groups to prevent elderly falls with understanding of contributing factors of falls in each group.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.600-608
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• 2001

Accidents are the fourth-leading causal factor of death among the elderly, and fall is a major type of accident (53.17%). Many cases of falls in the elderly result in delayed discovery and loss of quality of life. As the number of the elderly grows, falls will be a more important health problem. Most previous research on falls investigated prevalence. mortality, and the related factors. There are many studies proving the effect of rhythmic movements. But few researches considered linking risk factors of fall with rhythmic movements. Purpose: We want to show the changes after performing rhythmic movement program, in risk factors of falls and mobility such as flexibility, balance, muscle power and persistency in the elderly, in order to provide basic information needed for the development of fall injury prevention program for the elderly. Method: The design of this study is quasi-experimental, the equivalent control group, pretest-posttest. The subjects consist of 124 people who lived in Do-Bong-Qu. Seoul, agreed to participate in this study, and were able to follow this rhythmic movement program. About 93 % of them are from 65 to 84 years (Mean${\pm}$sd: $73.7{\pm}5.7$): 64% are female. The rhythmic movement program was designed. and performed by two community health nurses working in the Do-Bong-Gu Public Health Center, regularly twice a week from May, 4 to December, 17. in 10 senior citizens' community centers. Risk factors of fall were measured with RAFS- II (Risk Assessment for Falls Scale II) by asking about each item: mobility was measured by observing their specific movements asked by investigators. Results: 1. After performing the program during 7 months, risk factors score of falls were decreased significantly (paired-t = 4.77. p<0.01). 2. After performing the program during 7 months, flexibility (paired-t = 2.26. p=0.03) and mobility were improved (paired-t = 4.98. p<0.01). but muscle power and persistency did not change (paired-t = 0.33. p=0.74). Overall, mobility affecting the occurrence of falls was improved significantly (paired-t = 5.15. p<0.01). Conclusions: A regular rhythmic movement program can be helpful in preventing falls in the elderly. Further. we can develop a fall injury prevention program using rhythmic movement.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.438-448
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• 2010

The social activities of the elderly have been increasing as our society progresses toward an aging society. As their activities are increased, the occurrence of falls that could lead to fractures are increased. Falls are serious health hazards to the elderly and we need more thorough understanding of falls including the progress of falls and the impact area in various fall directions. Many of the traditional methods of falls research dealt with voluntary falls by younger subject since older subject can easily get fracture from voluntary falls. So, it has been difficult to get exact data about falls of the elderly. Here, we tried to capture the characteristics of the movements of major joints using three dimensional motion capture system during falls experiments using a moving mattress that can safely induce unexpected falls. Healthy younger subjects participated in the actual falls experiment and the moving mattress was actuated by a pneumatic system. The kinematic parameters such as velocities of major segments were imported to a computer simulation environment and falls to hard surfaces were simulated in a computational environment using a realistic human model of aged persons. The simulation was able to give approximations to contact forces which can occur during actual falls. And we designed impact absorption system to reduce the impact during falls. We can adapt this system to fracture prevention system that we are going to study.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.79-88
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• 2019

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the peak torques of the knee and ankle joint and local stability of the lower extremity's joints, and muscle activation patterns of the lower extremity's muscles between fallers and non-fallers in the elderly women during walking. Method: Four elderly women (age: $74.5{\pm}5.2yrs.$; height: $152.1{\pm}5.6cm$; mass: $55.3{\pm}5.4kg$; preference walking speed: $1.19{\pm}0.06m/s$) who experienced falls within six months since experiment had been conducted (falls group) and thirty-six subjects ($74.2{\pm}3.09yrs.$; height: $153.6{\pm}4.9cm$; mass: $56.7{\pm}6.4kg$; preference walking speed: $1.24{\pm}0.10m/s$) who had no experience in falls (non-falls group) within this periods participated in this study. They were measured torque peaks of the knee and ankle joint using a Human Norm and while they were walking on a treadmill at their natural pace, kinematic variables and EMG signals were collected with using a 3-D motion capture system and a wireless EMG system, respectively. Lyapunov Exponent (LyE) was determined to observe the dynamic local stability of the lower extremity's joints, and muscles activation and their co-contraction index were also analysed from EMG signals. Hypotheses between falls and non-falls group were tested using paired t-test and Mann-Whitey. Level of significance was set at p<.05. Results: Local dynamic stability in the adduction-abduction movement of the knee joint was significantly lower in falling group than non-falling group (p<.05). Conclusion: In conclusion, muscles which act on the abduction-adduction movement of the knee joint need to be strengthened to prevent from potential falls during walking. However, a small number of samples for fallers make it difficult to generalize the results of this study.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.29-40
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between metabolic syndrome factor diseases and falls in the elderly aged 65 years or older and use them as basic data to reduce the risk of falls. Methods: The method of this study was to compare the injury-related characteristics of the fall and non-fall groups with a factor disease of metabolic syndrome in Korea over 65 years of age. Data from the 14th National Hospital Discharge In-depth Injury Survey in 2018 were used to conduct the study. A total of 7,991 data were analyzed using SPSS 23.0. Results: Among the total injuries, the fall group with metabolic syndrome factor disease accounted for 69.0% and the non-fall group 31.0%. Falls occurred in 86.3% of households. In the fall group with metabolic syndrome factor disease, the number of females was 1.9~2.1 times higher than that of males. Compared to 65~69 years of age, the incidence of falls was 1.4~1.5 times higher in 70~79 years, 1.7~2.2 times higher in 80~89 years, and 2.5~3.6 times higher in 90-year-olds and older. In NISS, the incidence of falls was 1.7 times higher in moderate compared to mild. In principle diagnosis, the incidence of falls was 2.2 times higher in S40-S99 compared to S00-S19. Conclusion: The elderly with metabolic syndrome factor disease should continue to promote health through light exercise that can strengthen muscle strength to prevent falls.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.811-816
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• 2007

The social activities of the elderly have been increasing as our society progresses toward an aging society. As their activities are increased, the occurrence of falls that could lead to fractures are increased. Falls are serious health hazards to the elderly and we need more thorough understanding of falls including the progress of falls and the impact area in various fall directions. Many of the traditional methods of falls research dealt with voluntary falls by younger subject since older subject can easily get fracture from voluntary falls. So, it has been difficult to get exact data about falls of the elderly. Here, we tried to capture the characteristics of the movements of major joints using three dimensional motion capture system during falls experiments using a moving mattress that can safely induce unexpected falls. Healthy younger subjects participated in the actual falls experiment and the moving mattress was actuated by a pneumatic system. The kinematic parameters such as velocities and accelerations of major segments were imported to a computer simulation environment and falls to hard surfaces were simulated in a computational environment using a realistic human model of aged persons. The simulation was able to give approximations to contact forces which can occur during actual falls.

• Proceeding of Spring/Autumn Annual Conference of KHA
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• 2000.11b
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• pp.131-136
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to identify the perceptual differences among independent elderly relative. to falls risk associated with specified environmental design factors. The sample consisted of 135 independent elderly who live in Ulsan. The data were collected by utilizing questionnaire which included demographic information, and environmental design assessments accompanied by line drawings. The data were analyzed by using SAS program. The major findings were as follows: (1) There were 35(25.9％) elderly experienced fall(s) within one year and about half of the fallers fell more than once. (2) The elderly perceived lighting is the most hazardous interior design factor related to increased risk of falls. (3) There was a significant difference among age groups on perception of lighting as interior design factors and the elderly perceived differently floor as interior design factors by their perceived health status.