Two New Publications on Shock Absorbing Floors and Falls

In the September 2013 issue of Age and Ageing these two publications look at shock absorbing floors, the first, a Pilot cluster randomised controlled trial of flooring to reduce injuries from falls in wards for older people shows there are less injurious and less moderate/major injurious falls when shock absorbing floors were used. However concerns were raised about pushing equipment and further study is needed.

The second, Cost–utility analysis of a shock-absorbing floor intervention to prevent injuries from falls in hospital wards for older people, concludes that "the shock-absorbing flooring intervention has the potential to be cost-effective but further research is required on whether the intervention flooring results in a higher faller rate than standard flooring".