[Rehabilitation of the geriatric patient]

As the twentieth century draws to a close, people in the western industrialized countries have a longer life expectancy. As more people live longer, the proportion of the population that is handicapped and susceptible to chronic diseases is also increasing. Geriatrics has become an accepted medical specialty concerned with the very old. It seeks, through general and targeted measures, to enhance the lives of these handicapped people and enable them to be more independent. This is best done in a modern geriatric clinic with an attached day-care clinic. Only when an experienced multidisciplinary team basing its work on careful geriatric assessment determines the rehabilitation goal, evaluates the potential, and implements a definite programme can the maximum success be anticipated. Specialized orthopaedic-geriatric units working together can achieve the most satisfactory results for effective rehabilitation of elderly patients after orthopaedic surgery.