Author Archives: Cameron Hicks

Falls Prevention in the News!

There have been a number of articles published on falls in recent weeks surrounding the release of the Australian National Fall Guidelines.

Preventing Falls in Older Australians: Applying the Updated National Guidelines in Practice

Hosted in partnership between the CRE in the Prevention of Fall Related Injuries, The Australia New Zealand Falls Prevention Society and Injury Matters, this informative webinar introduced the newly released Preventing Falls and Harm from Falls in Older People: Best Practice Guidelines (2025), developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. These comprehensive, evidence-based guidelines provide best practice recommendations for preventing falls in hospitals, residential aged care, and community care settings. This video offers an overview of the updated guidelines, their development and discuss their application across various care environments. Viewers will hear from contributors involved in the development of the guidelines and gain insights into person-centred strategies to reduce falls risk and support healthy ageing.

We know how to prevent falls in older Australians, and save lives. So, why aren’t we?

In this new Croakey article, Prof Anne Tiedemann, A/Prof Jasmine Menant, Prof Kim Delbaere and Prof Cathie Sherrington write:

“We now need government leadership, sustained investment and coordinated action to prevent avoidable harm, and ensure all Australians can age with confidence, mobility and independence”.

Read about what needs to happen to ensure the new National Fall Prevention Guidelines create real change.

We know how to prevent falls in older Australians, and save lives. So, why aren’t we?

Photo by Centre for Ageing Better on Unsplash

ANZFPS EMCR Webinar Series: Exploring Frailty: What is it and how does it impact on health?

Presented by the ANZFPS Early-Mid Career Researcher Sub-Committee
Presenters: Dr Benignus Logan and Sandeep Gupta
Friday 30 May

Links from the webinar:
– Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) – Worldwide Journal club
– The Asia-Pacific Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Frailty
– British Geriatrics Society – Fit for frailty
– Agency for Clinical Innovation – Frailty Taskforce
– Northern Sydney Frailty Initiative
– Intergenerational playgroups

Dr Benignus Logan is a specialist geriatrician in Brisbane. He is in the final stages of completing his PhD which has examined frailty and goals of care in older people living with chronic kidney disease. Benignus works with the Australian Frailty Network, and established Frailty Nexus as a community of practice for researchers and healthcare professionals with an interest in frailty. Benignus will present an introduction to frailty, including its prevalence, how to measure it and give us an overview of the current research on frailty being undertaken by the Australian Frailty Network (AFN).

Sandeep Gupta is the Head of Physiotherapy at Canterbury Hospital, Sydney. He has been the Co-chair of the Agency for Clinical Innovation’s Frailty Expert Advisory Group and a member of the Executive for the ACI’s Frailty Taskforce. Sandeep has a Masters by research, is actively engaged in research and is a co-author on six peer reviewed publication. Sandeep will present an overview of clinical applications of frailty, including interventions designed to improve the patient outcomes for people treated for frailty.

Meet the speaker series – Prof Cathy Said

Today we would like to introduce Professor Cathy Said. Cathy is the inaugural Professor Physiotherapy, Western Health & The University of Melbourne and a program director with the Australian Institute of Musculoskeletal Science. Cathy has over 25 years’ experience working in neurological and gerontological rehabilitation. Her research focuses on fall prevention and the rehabilitation of gait and balance in older people and people with stroke. She is also passionate about how to bridge the divide between research evidence and practice, including how we can better meet the needs of people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Cathy’s presentation for the conference is titled ‘Exercise and Falls Prevention for older people from CALD communities’. In this interview Cathy discusses her research passion, some of the critical issues for fall prevention and some advice for Early and Mid Career Researchers.

Less than a year to go until the 11th Biennial ANZFPS Conference

In the lead up to the conference the Early and Mid- Career Researchers (EMCR) committee will be interviewing each of the presenters as part of the ‘Meet the Speaker Series’.

Today we would like to introduce Prof Rich Masters. Rich is a Professor of Human Movement Psychology in Te Huataki Waiora School of Health at the University of Waikato, Health, Sport and Human Performance. Rich is interested in understanding psychological markers of the way in which people learn and perform movements, with particular emphasis on nonconscious, implicit, processes. His work crosses discipline boundaries into rehabilitation, surgery, speech sciences, movement disorders, ageing, sports sciences, psychology and developmental disorders and disabilities.

In this interview Rich discusses his research passion, some of the future challenges for fall prevention and a teaser for his upcoming presentation.

Please visit https://anzfpconference.com.au/ for more information and key dates in the lead up to the conference.

Meet the speaker series – Prof Pazit Levinger

As part of our meet the invited speaker series we would like to introduce Prof Pazit Levinger. Professor Levinger is a Principal Researcher (Accredited Exercise Physiologist) at the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI). She also holds Honorary positions at the Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living (RAIL) Research Centre, Monash University and the Institute for Health and Sport (IHES), Victoria University.

She has over 18 years experience, skills and expertise in active ageing, physical activity and falls prevention, quantitative gait analysis and clinical biomechanics. Her current research focuses on research translation and community work with local government engagement. She is an expert in the area of age-friendly outdoor sites specifically designed for older people. Pazit currently works closely with government bodies in strategic development and planning around the built environment. She leads the ENJOY Seniors Exercise Park project, which won various industry awards for its impact on the community and older people’s wellbeing.

In this interview Pazit discusses her research passion, some of the future challenges for fall prevention and how her research has aimed to address these challenges.

Announcing Invited Speakers for the 2025 Australia and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society Conference

We are excited to announce a stellar line-up of International and National Speakers at our 2025 ANZFPS Conference in Sydney. We will be hearing about the research from our two International Keynote Speakers:

and from our Plenary Speakers:
– Prof Rich Masters, Waikato University, NZ
– Prof Pazit Levinger, National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne
– Dr Toby Ellmers, Imperial College London, UK
– Prof Lisa Keay, University of New South Wales, Sydney
– Prof Denise Taylor, Auckland University of Technology, NZ
– A/Prof Michele Callisaya, Monash University, Melbourne
– A/Prof Ruth Peters, The George Institute for Global Health, UNSW, Sydney
– Prof Cathy Said, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne
– Prof Rebecca Ivers, University of New South Wales, Sydney
– Prof Alison Hutchinson, Deakin University, Geelong

ANZFPS EMCR Webinar Series: Are we doing enough to promote independence?

How do older people rise from the floor independently?

Presented by the ANZFPS Early-Mid Career Researcher Sub-Committee

Presenters: Associate Professor Elissa Burton
HELD: Thursday 16th, May, 2024  Time: 12pm – 1pm AEST
Where: Zoom webinar

Associate Professor Elissa Burton provided an overview of her systematic review on whether interventions are effective in improving the ability of older adults to get up off the floor independently and the two main methods used. Elissa outlined her kinematic research that identified three main methods, with different methods used across three stages (i.e., initiation, weight transfer, transition to stand) that older adults use to get up from the floor. Finally, Elissa outlined practical considerations of therapeutic/exercise interventions targeting capacity to independently get up from the floor.

Elissa is an Accredited Sport Scientist (Level 2) and an Associate Professor at Curtin University in Western Australia. Elissa’s research focuses on helping older adults to live independently at home for as long as they choose, through healthy living strategies. Much of Elissa’s work has been with older adults who receive home care services, reablement or restorative care, promoting physical activity, preventing falls and getting off the ground, and encouraging healthy older adults to participate more in strength and balance training. She is a current NHMRC Investigator Grant holder and a Fellow of the Australasian Association of Gerontology (AAG).