Year-long home-based exercise programme improves physical functioning after hip fracture

A recently published secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial reveals that a home-based, supervised, and progressive exercise programme can help improve physical function and performance in older adults following hip fracture.

The present study included 121 patients (mean age 81 years, 75 percent women), all of whom had undergone surgical repair of hip fracture and had a Mini-Mental State Examination score ≥12. Those assigned to the exercise arm were asked to complete 60 minutes of physiotherapist-supervised exercise twice a week, with the overall programme lasting 12 months.

Assessments were conducted at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months, using the Lawton's Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), handgrip strength, and self-reported frequency of sessions of leisure-time physical activity.

After the year-long programme, those who received the exercise intervention saw a 3.7-point and 4.3-point increase in IADL and SPPB scores, respectively. Meanwhile, the corresponding increases in the usual care control group were 2.0 and 2.1 points. For both measures, the difference in change values were statistically significant in favour of the exercise intervention (p=0.016 and p<0.001, respectively).

Handgrip strength likewise increased to a significantly greater degree in the exercise group after 12 months (mean change, 1.2 vs –1.0 kg; p<0.001).

“Future trials should include longer follow-up periods to determine whether booster exercise sessions every few months, for example, would help maintain the effects on functioning achieved by exercise interventions,” the researchers said.