Recently a research paper reported on the results of a randomised trial in Brazil. It focussed on one important question – and won the 2019 (Australian) Journal of Physiotherapy’s award for Paper of the Year.
Researcher N.A. Moreno and her colleagues observed that older people admitted to hospital often have long stays with very low levels of physical activity. By the time they were discharged they had lost muscle strength, had more difficulty doing the things and were more reliant on others. Worse still, this health deterioration was likely to remain, in the form of greater disability and increased risk of dying. Also a higher risk of falling.
The researchers set up a trial whereby one randomly selected half of the older people admitted to the hospital received advice and a booklet from the physiotherapist about the “deleterious effects of hospitalisation and the importance of staying active during hospitalisation”. The other half just had the usual care.
Amazingly those who heard the physiotherapist’s advice and had the booklet took on average almost 1,000 more steps per day than their “usual care” counterparts and were also about one-fifth as likely to lose mobility during their hospital stay.
That is a good result, as for older adults 5,000 steps a day can be enough.
Simply understanding the risks and what they could do about them had empowered these older people to take their health into their own hands. A great result from a straightforward action, and another way to help you or someone you know to stay on their feet.
Here is a link to their paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31521553
From the Jasmine team – #staysafe!