Falls prevention and osteoarthritis: time for awareness and action

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) and falls both commonly affect older people. While high-level evidence exists to prevent falls in older people, falls prevention is rarely considered within contemporary OA management. OA care and falls prevention have for too long been considered as separate clinical constructs. In the context of ageing populations and growing numbers of people with OA, the time to raise awareness and enact appropriate action is now. This Perspectives on Rehabilitation article draws on the findings from a comprehensive mixed-methods falls and OA research program (which uniquely spanned population, clinician, and consumer perspectives) to better understand existing evidence-practice gaps and identify key opportunities for improvements in clinical care.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• While high-level evidence exists to prevent falls in older people, falls prevention is rarely considered within contemporary OA management and this represents a concerning knowledge-to-practice gap.

• Given ageing populations and growth in the number of people with OA, it is time for falls prevention to be incorporated within routine OA care for older people.

• To achieve this, we need to re-shape current messaging around falls prevention and develop targeted resources to optimise clinician knowledge and skills in this area.

Keywords:

• Falls
• falls prevention
• osteoarthritis
• evidence-based practice
• ageing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research program described in this paper was supported by a 2018 Arthritis Australia project grant (Arthritis Australia and State/Territory Affiliate grant). Professor Ackerman is supported by a Victorian Health and Medical Research Fellowship awarded by the Victorian Government (State Government of Victoria).