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Marymount program has helped thousands of older adults reduce risk of injury from falls

Catholic Herald Staff Report

The Northern Virginia Falls Prevention Alliance website offers links to free online exercise classes that can help older adults build strength and improve their balance. Classes include Exercise Buddy, a 20-minute seated exercise program for older adults (recorded before the pandemic) led by fitness instructor Andrea Baumann. SCREENGRAB

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For older adults, falls continue to be a leading cause of
unintentional injuries and hospital admissions for trauma that can take a
serious toll on quality of life and independence. But a $1 million fall
prevention program at Marymount University in Arlington is helping to teach
older adults in Northern Virginia how to protect themselves. Since the
coronavirus pandemic began, programs also have been offered online.

Thanks to two federal grants, Marymount has been working with
community organizations for the past four years and has trained more than 378
workshop leaders in evidence-based fall prevention techniques. They have
offered 173 workshops across the region, teaching fall prevention strategies to
3,985 older adults. Grant funding is from the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, Administration for Community Living.

“You can’t prevent all falls, but you can drastically reduce the
number of older adults who fall, and particularly the number who fall and get
hurt,” said Rita Wong, associate vice president for research at Marymount and
principal investigator of the grant team.

In an effort to maintain a presence in the community during the
COVID-19 pandemic, Sara Pappa, assistant professor of health and human
performance, and other partners have offered online strength, balance and
fitness programs for older adults who are at low-to-moderate risk for falling.
The grants also support small group sessions led by trained facilitators to
reduce fear of falling and teach older adults at higher risk of falling how to
improve their strength and balance using targeted exercises, under the guidance
of physical therapists.

She said older adults are often hesitant to exercise because they
fear that increased activity will cause them to fall, but “staying physically
active and exercising regularly are vital to minimizing the risk of falling.”
She added that specific types of exercises have been demonstrated to
effectively decrease risk.

During National Falls Prevention Awareness Week Sept. 21-25,
Marymount and its community partners hosted several virtual fall prevention
information and exercise events, as well as a free, socially distanced outdoor
fitness check to evaluate risk of falls in older adults.

Find out more

For more information on fall prevention, go to the
Northern Virginia Falls Prevention Alliance website, novafallsprevention.com

 

 

 

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