Nutrition

The best time to address a fall is before it happens. The next best time is immediately after. Falls are the leading cause of injury among older adults, affecting more than 14 million Americans age 65 and older each year. But the consequences extend beyond the immediate injury. A fall can affect confidence, mobility, independence and a resident's sense of security. ISF's Reducing Falls focus area approaches the problem from both sides: understanding risk early enough to help prevent falls and evaluating technology that can recognize an event and get help to a resident faster when one does occur.

// THE OPPORTUNITY

Fall prevention shouldn't begin with the fall.

Changes in balance, gait and mobility can develop over time, creating an opportunity to better understand risk before an incident occurs.

At the same time, even the best prevention strategy will not eliminate every fall. When one does happen, detection matters. Traditional rounds create unavoidable periods when a resident may be alone, meaning a fall can occur without a care team immediately knowing that assistance is needed.

ISF sees an opportunity to address the full continuum: understand risk, prevent where possible, detect when necessary, and respond faster.

That requires combining research with technologies capable of operating in the places older adults actually live.

// THE RESEARCH

Before we can prevent risk, we have to understand it.

ISF is supporting balance and mobility research with Cedars-Sinai to help advance the understanding of how changes in movement may relate to fall risk and healthy aging.

This research represents the prevention side of ISF's work: improving the evidence needed to understand balance and mobility before an adverse event occurs.

Senior living environments can play an important role in that research. They provide an opportunity to understand aging and mobility in the real world, where older adults actually live and where changes occur over months and years rather than during a single clinical visit.

The long-term opportunity is to connect research with real-world data in ways that help identify meaningful changes earlier and create better opportunities for intervention.