• 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.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.193-199
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to provide basic data for the development of fall prevention programs for the elderly and for improvement of quality of life based on history of falls, chronic diseases, location, fear of falling, daily living activities, and quality of life. This study was conducted from 15th August to 17th September of 2016 on 185 elderly subjects above the age of 65 living in four centers of J city and four centers of J rural. The results of this study are as follows: There were no statistically significant differences in daily living activities, fear of falls, and quality of life regarding falls in the past. There were statistically significant differences in fear of falling and quality of life regarding chronic diseases. There were statistically significant differences in daily living activities and quality of life regarding residence. This study confirms that there were relations among daily living activities, fear of falling, and quality of life, and there was a negative correlation between fear of falling and accomplishment of daily living activities(r=-.386, p<.000). There was also a positive correlation between accomplishment of daily living activities and quality of life(r=.513, p<.000). Therefore, avoiding outings on slippery roads and creating safe environments for the elderly are important to reduce fear of falling. Additionally, a system should be developed for the elderly to acquire necessary information for daily life.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.497-502
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• 2015

One of the goals in the field of mobile robotics is the development of personal service robots for the elderly which behave in populated environments. In this paper, we describe a security robot system and ongoing research results that minimize the risk of the elderly and the infirm to access an area to enter restricted areas with high potential for falls, such as stairs, steps, and wet floors. The proposed robot system surveys a potential falling area with an equipped laser scanner sensor. When it detects walking in elderly or infirm patients who in restricted areas, the robot calculates the velocity vector, plans its own path to forestall the patient in order to prevent them from heading to the restricted area and starts to move along the estimated trajectory. The walking human is assumed to be a point-object and projected onto a scanning plane to form a geometrical constraint equation that provides position data of the human based on the kinematics of the mobile robot. While moving, the robot continues these processes in order to adapt to the changing situation. After arriving at an opposite position to the human's walking direction, the robot advises them to change course. The simulation and experimental results of estimating and tracking of the human in the wrong direction with the mobile robot are presented.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.203-213
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• 2005

Purpose: To assess the environmental hazards of falling accident in the homes of the elderly. Method: 222 homes of the elderly were assessed by the home environmental Checklist from May to July in 2003. Results: The mean score of home environmental hazards for fall were 13.19 with the highest score being 49, ranging from 4 to 24. The bathroom was the most hazardous place in the home, porch came next bedroom, kitchen, living room and stair followed them. The floor surface such as finishes and non-skid mats was the most hazardous interior factor in the home, using bathroom came next furniture and illumination followed them. The floor surface such as finishes and non-skid mats in the bathroom, kitchen, living room and porch, illumination of bedroom and stair were the most prevalent hazards in the home of interior. Of the 49 potential hazards, bathroom grab bar was the most prevalent one with 89.9%, and non-skid rugs in the porch, bathroom and kitchen, safety of dinner table, the threshold and furniture of porch, and illumination of bedroom were prevalent more than half of the home under assessing. Men, living in the separate house or villa with stairs were in more hazardous environments. Conclusion: To reduce the potential hazards of fall accident in the home, improving hazards relating to floor surface such as slip resistance surface and mats is important specially those of the separate house or villa with stairs.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1483-1490
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• 2004

Community-based centres were surveyed to determine the frequency of and risk factors for falls among elderly Koreans. We examined fall-related risk factors, including physiological and physical health, psychosocial functions, self-reported physical capacity and activity, vision, and the use of medication, among 351 elderly people aged 65 years or older, with ambulatory. Forty-two per cent of elderly Korean subjects reported at least one episode of falling in the previous 12 months, $38\%$ of whom had consequences that required either the attention of a physician or hospitalization. Factors significantly associated with an increased risk of falling were a restricted activity during the previous five years (adjusted OR 1.3), use of alternative therapy (adjusted OR 2.7), low knee flexor and extensor-muscle strength (adjusted OR 1.21 and 1.20), and poor balance with closed eyes (adjusted OR 8.32). We conclude that falls among older persons living in the community are common in Korea and that indicator of bad health and frailty or variables directly related to neuromuscular impairment are significant predictors of the risk of falling.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.119-129
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• 2024

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a low-intensity combined exercise program on daily physical fitness parameters such as balance, flexibility, muscle strength, and fear of falling of elderly women in the community. METHODS: This study assigned 30 elderly women randomly into two groups: The control and experimental groups. The control group (n = 15) underwent routine gait. The experimental group (n = 15) underwent the low-intensity combined exercise. The exercise program in this study comprising combined exercise, including balance, flexibility, muscle strength training, and the exercise program using props was conducted twice a week for 8 weeks. RESULTS: The average age of the control and experimental groups was 77.27 years and 78.33 years, respectively. There were significant differences in static balance (t = -4.167, p < .001), dynamic balance (t = 2.463, p < .001), (t = -3.870, p < .001), (t = -2.262, p < .001), (t = -5.732, p < .001), (t = -6.573, p < .001), and fear of falling (t = -5.129, p < .001). CONCLUSION: The results show that low-intensity combined exercise is an effective intervention that improves physical health fear of falling in older women. The combined exercise program was found to be more effective in terms of physical function and fall-related psychological function compared to the control group that only walked.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.602-607
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• 2017

This study was undertaken to compare the gait characteristics between the Korean elderly and young adults, we measured the plantar pressure and contact time of gait with barefoot along a walkway at their preferred walking speed. The results indicate that older people exhibited significantly less plantar pressure than young adult in all 3 regions (FF, MF and RF) and significantly less time % on the initial contact phase (ICP), forefoot push-off phase (FFPOP) and significantly more % forefoot contact phase (FFCP) and foot flat phase (FFP). The converted plantar pressure value to percentage, it showed more pressure in forefoot (FF) in the elderly person than the young adults. It could be explained that the forward shifting in plantar pressure are associated with a more flexed posture of elderly such as actual stabilizing fearrelated adaptations. Longer total foot contact time in the elderly means that the old people show the decreased gait velocity. In other words, lower velocity was found to be associated with pre-existing fear of falling. With longer contact time and slower stepping movement, the elderly become more unstable. With these findings, it could be confirmed that there were significant changes in foot characteristics which contribute to alter the plantar pressure and contact time during gait with advancing age. Further research is required to establish possible links to risk of falling and development of footwear in the elderly adults.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.233-239
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• 2003

Falling related injuries are categorized as the most serious and common medical problems experienced by the elderly, hip joint fracture, one of the most serious consequences of falling in the elderly, occurs in only about 1% of falling. Nevertheless, hip fracture accounts for a considerable part of the disability, death, and medical costs associated with falling. In this study, we considered the impact angle and displacement rate in falling as another factor affecting femoral strength. Using a fresh-frozen human femur, we developed system to simulate the falling condition and then conducted the experiments changing the impact angle (0$^{\circ}$, 15$^{\circ}$, 30$^{\circ}$) of proximal femur. Also, in order to analyze the relative risk due to falling to normal situation in proximal femur, we did the static test simulating the two-legged stance condition. The results showed that the change in impact angle affected the strain distribution in proximal femur, and that a large deformation in femoral neck than in other sites. Furthermore despite low impact velocity, a large deformation in proximal femur occurred in the impact test and different strain distribution was observed compare to the static case.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.444-451
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in temporospatial variables in healthy elderly and healthy adults during usual walking, narrow base walking and centerline-guided walking. Twenty healthy elderly and nineteen healthy adults were participated in this study. In each conditions, the subjects were walked on a 6m walkway at comfortable self-selected speeds under three conditions : (1) usual walking, (2) walking within a 50% of the distance between the subject's ASIS (3) walking along a centerline. GAITRite system was used for kinematic analysis to assess the temporospatial variables. There were no significant changes in healthy adults(p>.05), but walking speed, cadence, H-H base support, functional ambulation performance were significantly decreased progressively as pathway narrowed in elderly adults(p<.05). The results show that elderly people had more difficulty with walking on narrow pathway for fear of falling. This study provides data for use in basic research into safe walking and preventing falling for elderly.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a fall prevention program on gait ability, one leg standing-right, one leg standing-left, fear of falling, fall efficacy, and depression in the elderly. Methods: A fall prevention program was consisted of fall preventing exercise with laughter therapy. Quasi-experimental design with one group pre- and post-test was used. Twenty-two elderly were participated in this study from a community health center located in a rural area, South Korea. SPSS/WIN 18.0 was used for descriptive analysis and paired t-test. Results: After 12 weeks with a fall prevention program, gait ability (t=3.44, p=.002), one leg standing-right (t=-3.73, p=.001), one leg standing-left (t=-4.17, p<.001) and fear of falling (t=2.12, p=.046) in the elderly were significantly improved. Conclusion: A fall prevention program was effective on physical and psychological functions. This study suggested that control groups and a larger sample should be included in order to validate the effects of a fall prevention program for the elderly. Key Words: Elderly, Fall prevention program, Physical functions, Psychological