14 Jan
14:00

Online PhD conferral Simone C. Gafner

Supervisors: Prof. dr. R.A. de Bie, Dr. C.H.G. Bastiaenen

Co-supervisor: Prof dr Lara de Preux-Allet, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland

Key words: Aged, falls, diagnostic accuracy, hip abductor strength

"Mind Your Step; The use of hip abductor strength to assess the fall risk of persons 65 years and older"

Falls in people aged 65 and over are now recognized as a public health problem. The high rate of falls is disconcerting because of the severity of their personal consequences. Therefore, health care professionals should strive to detect people at risk of falls as early as possible. This dissertation provides a new practical asset for authorities in the field of prevention, rehabilitation and movement science, allowing detecting and discriminating between older fallers and non-fallers. As a novel approach, the role of hip abductor strength in detecting the risk of falls of persons aged 65 years and over was investigated. Additionally, this thesis gives an overview and recommendations for clinical use of ten currently used performance-based fall risk assessments. The clinical application of its results can easily be done at both the population and individual level, and supports the decision-making process between the patient and the health care professionals regarding the risk of falls.

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