Hip fracture numbers tumble
As a former engineer, Palmerston North city councillor Bruno Petrenas has an aptitude for mental arithmetic and puzzles.
But he has recently discovered it’s hard to balance on one foot while counting backwards from 300 in multiples of 11.
The dual challenge is part of an ACC programme working to cut the prevalence of falls among the over-65s.
In the Midcentral Health district, it is one of several programmes helping to more than halve the incidents of hip fractures in a year.
Petrenas said he joined the ACC pilot called NYMBL after seeing the injuries some people suffered from tripping on uneven footpaths. He also realised how many people were in hospital because of falls.
He said falls could result from simple things like standing up too quickly to get from bed to the toilet, not expecting to have to step over a child’s toy on the floor or, not having the quick reaction to recover from a minor stumble.
The risk of falls increased with age, with loss of fitness and an increase of medications for various conditions.
ACC said more than 160,000 people aged over 65 had falls that required medical care in 2019. And, it spent $216 million helping those people to recover.
Petrenas said the dollar cost was just one aspect. Older people were slower to heal than young adults, and sometimes not able to regain their full function or independence at all.
He said the trial app set challenges that were not as easy as they looked.
One foot immediately straight ahead of the other, with eyes closed, was a good test for balance but, combined with doing a cognitive puzzle as well, was a tricky exercise.
NYMBL is part of ACC’S Live Stronger for Longer programme, but it is not the only one.
Midcentral Health’s primary health organisation, Think Hauora, leads a fracture liaison service for anyone over 50, who’s had a bone break or injury from a simple fall.
Service nurse Paula Eyres said such accidents often suggested reduced bone strength or osteoporosis, which could put people at risk of further breaks.
The programme offered strength and balance classes for people fit and able to attend group sessions, and in-home strength and balance sessions for those unable to get out or who were assessed as needing one-to-one help.
The programmes were all supported to some degree by Midcentral District Health Board, whose own project had shortened the delay between hip surgery and rehabilitation, from 4.6 to oneand-a-half days in a year.
Clinical executive for healthy ageing and rehabilitation, Syed Zaman, said the combination of programmes had prompted a dramatic drop in hip fractures in the district.
In the three months to September 2019, 45 people were admitted to Palmerston North Hospital with hip fractures. In the same three months a year later, that had dropped to 20.
‘‘It’s an indication that these measures are having an impact.’’
He said getting older people moving as soon as possible shortened their hospital stay, and reduced the risk of losing body mass and strength while lying in a hospital bed.
In the over-65s, one in three people could expect a fall each year and, for those over 80, there was a 50-50 chance.