CHICAGO: Adopting research from a fall prevention trial program run by the Otago Medical School in Dunedin, New Zealand, the CEO of Chicago-based company Simply Home Health was able to produce a 54% reduction in falls for seniors at an Illinois assisted living facility, and plans expand his research in the coming year.
The project uses ankle weights to strengthen five key muscle groups in the leg, all of which serve critical functions not only for movement, but for fall prevention as well—upper leg (hamstring), the hips (abductors), rear ankle flexor (calf), front ankle flexor and the front upper leg (quads).
In addition to using the ankle cuff weights, the initial New Zealand program also used methods to prove compliance and motivate the 1000 community-dwelling seniors in the study to make the three-day-a-week exercise part of their new and improved lifestyles. Those in the test group were required to fill out and mail in exercise diaries, while the clinicians who trained them made several follow up visits and phone calls to monitor progress.
Using information obtained from the diaries, phone calls and face-to-face follow-ups, clinicians advised participants when they could safely add the ‘Level 2’ exercise routines, which would call for an increase to the size of the ankle weights…