by Steve Richardson on May 13, 2013
The Prevention of Falls Network for Dissemination (ProFouND) is a new EC funded initiative dedicated to bring about the dissemination and implementation of best practice in falls prevention across Europe.
ProFouND comprises 21 partners from 12 countries, associate members from a further 10 countries. ProFouND aims to influence policy to increase awareness of falls and innovative prevention programmes amongst health and social care authorities, the commercial sector, NGOs and the general public so as to facilitate communities of interest and disseminate the work of the network to target groups across EU.
More specifically ProFouND’s objective is to embed evidence based fall prevention programmes for elderly people at risk of falls by using novel ICT and effective training programmes in at least 10 countries/15 regions by 2015 so as to facilitate widespread implementation. ProFouND will achieve this in three main ways. [click to continue…]
by Steve Richardson on April 1, 2013
Emerging evidence suggests that the fashion for really low baggy pants poses a significant increase of risk of falls to ageing populations.
Several studies have shown that wearing loose, oversize pants poses two main risks; the first is associated with the bottom of the pants trailing on the floor leading to a very high risk that the material will be caught under the shoe causing imbalance and probably a trip, stumble or even fall. The second is the risk of total garment fail where the carefully balanced waistline drops below the critical ‘hold point’ and the pants fall down. If this happens while moving the consequences are inevitable.
UPDATE: Of course this is an April Fool and in keeping with tradition, after 12 noon we should not try to make anyone take it seriously. [click to continue…]
by Steve Richardson on February 18, 2013
Further to the announcement that profane.co is now a member of the Falls and Fractures Alliance, we are very proud to present the first in a brand new series of dedicated sections of the profane.co website based on the Map of Falls and Fracture Prevention. The Vision Impairment and Falls section is a comprehensive overview of everything you need to know about this important topic as a falls prevention professional.
We have also made updates to the Map of Falls and Fractures, thanks to David Langford and Lotte Evron for their contributions – very much appreciated. Also, if you see a ‘red dot’ next to a node, it means there is a dedicated profane.co section for that topic – the first being the new Vision and Falls section.
by Dawn Skelton on February 5, 2013
Prof Dawn Skelton gave a keynote at a conference in Kent this week. The presentation covered a recent review of the evidence behind falls prevention interventions (Cochrane Reviews and Exercise Reviews), links with Physical Activity Guidelines for Older People and some thoughts on implementation of assessment and intervention on lesser considered risk factors such as feet, eyes and continence. The day also included a very successful #fallschat on Twitter, an exercise class and more. Contact @uk_james for further information.
You can download Dawn’s presentation as a pdf handout, or you can download the full powerpoint presentation. You are welcome to use the presentation for your own awareness raising and training but please acknowledge Professor Skelton and http://profane.co to help build the worlds largest falls prevention professional online community.
