Feet and falling featured in Harvard Health Letter

Professor Hylton Menz was recently interviewed for a feature article on "Feet and falling" for the highly respected Harvard Health Letter. Click here to read a summary.

Podiatry intervention reduces rate of falls by 36%

The study is now complete and has been published in the BMJ. The results indicate that a multifaceted podiatry intervention (consisting of foot orthoses, advice on footwear, subsidy for footwear, a home-based foot and ankle exercise program and a falls prevention education booklet) reduces the rate of falls by 36% compared to routine podiatry care. Click on the image to download the full paper.

The paper is also accompanied by and editorial by Prof Wes Vernon (click here).

Recruitment now complete!

We have now reached our target sample of 300 participants and are no longer actively recruiting for this project.

Participants are now completing their 6 month follow-up assessments and 12 month follow-up for falls. Preliminary results will be available in November 2010, and will be presented at the 4th Australian and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society conference in Dunedin, New Zealand, November 21-23, 2010 (link).

The research team would like to sincerely thank all the participants for their involvement in the study.

Volunteers required for research study

The Musculoskeletal Research Centre at La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia is conducting a research study to assess how podiatry treatment may improve balance and prevent falls in people with foot pain.

If you:

(i) are aged 65 years or older, and
(ii) have had foot pain within the last month

...you may be eligible to participate.

All treatments are provided free of charge.

For more information, please contact us on:

(03) 9479-5258

...or email:

Elin Wee (e.wee@latrobe.edu.au)
Dr Reza Fotoohabadi (m.fotoohabadi@latrobe.edu.au)