Helping patients to regain their confidence and rebuild their strength after a fall

The Broadgreen Falls Clinic was first established in 2007 as an outpatient rehabilitation service and aims to help patients regain their confidence as well as rebuild their strength after a fall.

All of the patients who attend the clinic get assessed by a physiotherapist, and then take part in a 12-week course, consisting of two-hour classes each week which follows a system named ‘Otago’ which was first developed in New Zealand.

The classes focus on different elements of falls prevention, including being aware of environmental trip hazards in the home, good foot care, bone health and much more. Patients also partake in a number of different sitting and standing exercises to increase their confidence, balance, and build muscle strength.

The course not only improves physical mobility and fitness in its participants over the weeks, which reduces the likelihood of further falls, but it also boosts people’s confidence in getting back up, out and about after a fall too.

Often after a fall, patients will feel that their confidence has been knocked, and their natural inclination might be to do less as a result – however, this has the knock-on effect of further reducing strength and mobility, and increasing the risk of further falls. That’s why the service starts working with people as soon as 72 hours after a fall.

There is also an important social element to the classes which supports with rehabilitation too. The lessons are also fun which keeps people coming back, and because patients get to attend with others who have had similar experiences, they can help motivate one another, and move forward together.

The Falls Team at Broadgreen Hospital was also recently featured on BBC Morning Live with presenter Sheree Murphy visiting the service. You can watch the segment below.