Every year, more than 200,000 New Zealanders aged over 50 suffer a fall-related injury, and about 27,000 of these require hospital treatment.
Annually, a third of people aged over 65 will fall, a rate that increases to 50% for people aged 80 or over.
Frailty is a leading cause of falls, and April Falls month — a nationwide campaign by the Health Quality and Safety Commission, ACC and the Ministry of Health — is encouraging older people to enrol in keep-fit classes to improve leg strength, core strength and balance.
All district health board areas are setting up group strength and balance classes in their community, and exercise providers who meet a nine-point clinical assessment for strength and balance training will receive a "quality tick" grading.
WellSouth is running the programme in the SDHB region, and its falls and fracture prevention co-ordinator, Laura Hogue, said her aim was to improve people’s lives by keeping them active.
"The number which keeps popping back in my head is $47,000, which is the cost of just repairing or replacing the hip and a normal hospital stay which is uncomplicated with no rehab and no ongoing support at home," she said.
"Having said that, I think health professionals are more focused on the cost to the person, their family and their loved ones, because we want to see older people leading full, independent, purposeful lives and keeping on doing what they want to do.
"Keeping on exercising is one of the easiest ways you can do that."
While keeping fit might be seen as a "young person’s" activity, being active was vital for mental and physical wellbeing as well as for fall prevention, Ms Hogue said.
However, with older people, training needed to be more specialised and focused to ensure they did the right exercises to achieve the right outcomes.
"If you are stronger, you are more likely to have a better outcome if you are injured; the people with the poorer outcomes tend to be the really frail adults who have conditions like osteoporosis.
"We are trying to prevent that frailty earlier on by improving bone health and improving strength and balance."
One of the biggest barriers to people exercising was, ironically, a fear of falling, Ms Hogue said.
However, not exercising meant someone’s strength and balance would deteriorate, leaving them even more vulnerable to falling.
"It becomes a cycle and it’s one of our biggest worries," Ms Hogue said.
"We all have family, friends, neighbours, and we’re all ageing ourselves — it’s something we should all be aware of."
Two Dunedin gyms now have a quality-tick grading for their training programmes, and Ms Hogue was hoping to see classes established in aged-care homes and smaller communities.
"We don’t want to medicalise exercise, we want it to be something which is fun and is available to everyone, run by their local people."
