Impaired Mobility and Functional Decline in Older Adults: Evidence to Facilitate a Practice Change

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services report nearly 55% of Medicare beneficiaries older than 85 experience impaired mobility and nearly 28% (n = 671,833) of these individuals have difficulty getting help. Impaired mobility is a precursor to disability, which has notable clinical significance and importance to older adults. Using case exemplars of older adults who have experienced a "serious" fall, along with evidence-based research, the physical, psychosocial, emotional, and clinical consequences are discussed, along with assessment parameters and interventions for maximizing function and early mobility.