Elderly people enjoy taking part in exercise programmes – but often they are not getting the right kind of exercise, according to an analysis published today.
The main aim of the programmes is to help prevent injury from falls – but experts say that means participants must undertake resistance programme.
Ankle weights are meant to be used to improve leg strength – but just 29 per cent of patients reported using them, according to a survey conducted by the Royal College of Physicians.
Researchers said the survey set out to investigate concerns that falls prevention services were not effective.
Findings from staff showed that most classes only took place once a week – but guidance says they should be more frequent, the researchers say.
And 81 per cent of patients said their programmes had lasted for less than 13 weeks.
Geriatrician Dr Jonathan Treml, of University Hospitals Birmingham, who helped conduct the audit, said: "The right type of exercise is the single most effective way of reducing the risk of falls in older people. It is concerning that many local NHS services appear to provide exercise programmes that are of insufficient duration or intensity to assure benefit to this vulnerable group."
Jackie Riglin, a physiotherapist in Cambridgeshire, added: "The positive feedback from participants of the benefits of exercise to them is heartening.
"However, it is vital that clinicians, CEOs and commissioners of Falls Prevention Services now work collaboratively to build on this enthusiasm and ensure provision of long term evidence based classes that are specific enough to reduce falls, injuries and hospital admissions and improve quality of life and independence for older people who have fallen."
* A second study in the Emergency Medicine Journal today, highlights big differences in ambulance service policies for managing falls.
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