Uniken

Creator
University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit
Call Number
Nf 378.944 UNI
Created/Published
Kensington, N.S.W. : University of New South Wales, [1975]-2015
Issue
1988, no. 6 (6 May, 1988)
Images
8
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Text

UNIKEN  

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES  

No. 246 (No. of 1988)  

Published fortnightly by the Pubhc Affairs Unit  

Registered by Australia Post Publication No. NBF 4388  

May 1988  

New tests to  

help elderly  

avoid falls  

By the year 2011, according  

to the Australian Bureau of  

Statistics, the number of elderly  

people admitted to hospital for  

the treatment of femoral neck  

fractures (fractured hips) will  

have risen from 315,000 in  

1986 to 579,000.  

Even if costs remain constant,  

and inflation is ignored, this will  

add nearly $22 million to the  

public health bill.  

But results of pilot con-  

ducted by Mr Stephen Lord,  

Professional Officer in UNSW’s  

School of Community Medicine  

and doctoral student, indicate  

that it should be possible to  

screen the elderly to find out in  

advance those with, or likely to  

develop, the balance problems  

which may cause them to fall  

and injure their hips.  

Research has shown that falls  

are frequent among the elderly,  

particularly those over the age of  

65 one-third of whom may  

experience at least one fall  

year. The incidence is higher  

among women.  

The hip fractures resulting  

from these falls often require  

acute care in hospital for any-  

thing up to 38 days, with death  

the likely outcome for 27 per  

cent of patients, according to  

one study. Among those who  

survive, only per cent are able  

to walk as well as they did  

before their fall.  

What Mr Lord’s study did,  

was to administer 12 tests to  

large sample of people aged from  

60 years and over, measuring the  

effect of age overall on balance,  

co-ordination, reaction time and  

strength. This contrasts with  

earlier investigations which have  

looked at specific kinds of falls  

and the environmental or clinical  

factors which might have caused  

them.  

Mr Lord found that age  

causes reduced efficiency in the  

body systems responsible for  

postural control, bringing about  

physiological predisposition to  

falling.  

These body systems include  

proprioception (ability to receive  

muscle signals telling where the  

body is when the eyes are closed),  

vision, neuromuscular control,  

muscle strength and central  

nervous system integration.  

The 12 tests, some standard  

and some with new instruments  

devised by Mr Lord, showed that  

age brings about decline in three  

visual measures: visual acuity,  

rod-and-frame field dependence  

and extent of roll vection. These  

last two not reported on  

before says Mr Lord, show  

how person responds to situa-  

tions where visual and other  

postural systems are placed in  

conflict, that is, the extent to  

which they can detect true  

vertical if there is tilt or roll in  

their visual field.  

Reduced ability to do this  

means more reliance on sight  

rather than on messages coming  

to the brain from the muscles,  

joints and the vestibular system.  

So if the visual environment is  

defective, the likelihood of fall-  

ing is the greater.  

Muscle weakness in the legs  

another consequence of age  

adds to the risk.  

Mr Lord found that among  

women ‘fallers’ visual capacity  

was inadequate to compensate  

for reduced signals from the  

muscular system.  

Reduced sense of touch and  

reaction time had little to do  

with pre-disposition to fall, the  

study found.  

How can the tests help  

prevent falls among the elderly?  

According to Professor lan  

Webster, Head of the School of  

Community Medicine and super-  

visor of the project, it should be  

possible to re-train people’s use  

of their muscles and to strengthen  

the muscles so that sensory  

input from them is increased.  

Screening programs would  

identify those elderly most at  

risk and would allow hospitals  

presently working on general  

exercise programs to produce  

exercise profiles for likely fallers.  

Professor Webster says it is  

essential as ageing progresses,  

not to ‘give up’ not to give up  

on exercising the brain or the  

muscles. Countries like China  

and the USSR, he says, with  

large aged populations and  

reduced medical resources, vigor-  

ously promote exercise and  

activity programs for the elderly.  

Mr Lord’s testing procedures  

for fallers, he says, are simple,  

acceptable and unobtrusive.  

They can be done in clinics.  

His study will continue with  

tests projected on random  

sample of 1,000 women from  

the Randwick municipality and  

on 100 dependent people in  

King’s Cross Anglican Hostel.  

Is this record?  

Book Fair-$126,000  

UNSW’s biennial Book Fair  

which ran from 25—30 April,  

had record net takings of  

$126,000 for the Committee,  

the group of wives of staff and  

friends of the University which  

raises money for projects which  

cannot be funded in other ways.  

Committee President, Mrs  

Jacqueline Samuels, said the  

public response was remarkable,  

from the opening 15 minutes  

when 3,000 people surged  

through the doors of Unisearch  

House, to the final day when the  

remainder of the books were  

sold for box.  

‘Takings were just over  

$132,000 and after expenses we  

should make approximately  

$126,000, an increase on the  

$1 13,000 net from 1986’, she  

said.  

‘lt was an excellent Book  

Fair despite the constant rain  

which kept our cloak room  

attendants very busy.’  

Mrs Samuels said organizers  

feared the worst when 25-  

minute blackout occurred during  

the peak selling period on the  

first day but the crowd was very  

well behaved and stood patiently  

until things were rectified. There  

were no security problems.  

She said the slow auction had  

raised 520,000, the sale of  

stamps $9OO and the sale of rare  

books about SI 0,000.  

would like to thank publicly  

everybody who assisted, includ-  

ing Committee members,  

people from the University, and  

others who have left the Univer-  

sity but returned to help at the  

Fair’, she said. ‘lt was an enor-  

mous team effort,’  

With the 1988 Fair closed  

book, Committee members  

are already planning for 1990.  

Anyone who would like to assist  

with the next Fair can do so by  

visiting the Book Room (near  

the Unisearch House carpark) on  

Monday mornings. The tele-  

phone number at the Book  

Room is 697 5889.  

Among the tests to determine balance problems among the elderly inolves  

subject attempting to align black strip on the small disc with the vertical,  

while the large striped disc rotates around the subject's line of sight. This  

test measures the subject's sense of the vertical when exposed to 'conflicting'  

visual stimuli.  

Six University Medals were presented at the one graduation ceremony on 29 April. From the Board of Studies in  

Science and Mathematics, clockwise from top right are Eric Demoiseau (shared. Physics), Rachel Hancock (Pure  

Mathematics), Christopher Lovett (Computer Science), Vincent Wacher (Chemistry), Maria Dimitratos (Optometry),  

and Fiona Walkerden (shared. Physics). Is this record tally of medals? For more graduation pictures see back page.  

section of the milling crowd jamming Unisearch House when the doors  

opened for the 11th biennial Book Fair on Anzac Day. The week-long event  

attracted widespread media coverage.  

Department Medical Illustration  

Preview pp 4,5  

PEN  

DA  

Saturday June 1988  

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-252334614

APA citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit & University of New South Wales, issuing body. (1975). Uniken Retrieved June 4, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-252334614

MLA citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit and University of New South Wales, issuing body. Uniken Kensington, N.S.W: University of New South Wales, 1975. Web. 4 June 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-252334614>

Harvard/Australian citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit & University of New South Wales, issuing body. 1975, Uniken University of New South Wales, Kensington, N.S.W viewed 4 June 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-252334614

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  | author1=University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit.
  | author2=University of New South Wales, issuing body.
  | title=Uniken.
  | year=1975
  | section=volumes : illustrations ; 30-43 cm.
  | issn=0312-7877
  | issue=1988, no. 6 (6 May, 1988)
  | location=Kensington, N.S.W
  | publisher=University of New South Wales
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-252334614
  | id=nla.obj-252334614
  | access-date=4 June 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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