Reading material on improving movement analysis and therapy

The geriatric assessment is a multidisciplinary assessment. It aims to evaluate an older person’s functional ability, physical and mental health, cognition, and socioenvironmental circumstances. It is usually initiated when the physician or family members identifies a potential problem. The geriatric assessment differs from a standard medical evaluation by emphasizing functional capacity and quality of life. Often, it is completed in a multidisciplinary team. (Bassem & Higgins 2011) 

The Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) is a well-established and reliable test for measuring the performance of the lower limbs of older people. A SPPB score lower than 10 is predictive of all-cause mortality. The test may provide useful prognostic information about the risk of all-cause mortality, but it also provides useful and reliable information about the geriatric client’s ability to perform daily living activities. (Pavasini et al 2016) 

Short Physical Performance battery: information of the validity and reliability of the test battery SPPB Guide.  

Instruction to perform the test battery: Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) | National Institute on Aging (nih.gov) 

The Barthel Index for Activities of Daily Living is an ordinal scale which measures a person’s ability to complete activities of daily living (ADL) (physiopedia). Barthel Index was created in 1965 to assess functional independence to perform 10 daily activities, and it has been mostly used with neurological diseases and the elderly (dos Santos Barros et al 2022) 

The case description of the client on the video will be available for the learner: 

Martta Mäkinen 

88-yrs old lady living at home with the help of home care and home care nurse. No children, husband passed away 20 years ago. Her sister’s daughter has helped going to the bank and grocery store.  

Her medical diagnosis are Type 2 Diabetes (insulin dependent), Myocardial infarction in 2015 and Hypertension for 30 yrs. 

She fell at home and was taken to hospital by ambulance 3 days ago. She was complaining about pain in the left shoulder. The x-rays showed no fractures, but she is having large hematoma in the shoulder and moving the arm seems painful. No acute ischemic changes seen in ECG. No cerebrovascular accident seen in head MRI.  

She was discharged from hospital yesterday and the doctor has given a referral to a physiotherapist for a home visit and evaluation of the ability to live at home independently. 

Additional materials are available in the e-manual.