"PHYSICAL-FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND FALLS IN OLDER ADULTS"
Accidental Falls, Muscle Strength, Walking Speed, Sitting Position, Frailty
Objective: Our project aimed to 1) investigate the influence of knee, ankle and hip muscle strength and power on the rate of falls in community-dwelling elderly people, 2) investigate the accuracy of gait speed and the five-time chair lift test for predict future falls and 3) investigate whether there is any evidence of dose-response resistance training to improve functional performance and reduce the rate of falls in frail and pre-frail elderly. Method: 1) this is a longitudinal observational study. An assessment of muscle strength and power of hip flexors, extensors, adductors and abductors, knee flexors and extensors and ankle plantarflexors and dorsiflexors was performed using an isokinetic dynamometer. The occurrence of falls was evaluated for 12 months through monthly telephone follow-up. To determine the association between the variables of muscle strength and power and the occurrence of falls, multivariate logistic regression analyzes were performed. 2) To investigate the accuracy of gait speed and the five-time chair lift test to predict future falls, ROC curves were performed. 3) To investigate whether there is any evidence of dose-response resistance training to improve functional performance and reduce the rate of falls in frail and pre-frail elderly people, a systematic review of the literature on the topic was performed.