Impact of Otago exercises on risk of falls in rural Mysuru elderly

Otago exercises are a set of exercises to improve strength, balance and are proven to prevent falls in the elderly population worldwide. But there is a paucity of information of their use in India, and on the rural elderly. Hence, the author has used these exercises as intervention on rural elderly of Mysuru district, whose strength of lower limb muscles, balance and mobility scores were poor and fear of fall was evident. The exercises were done under supervision for first three months of the six months' duration. The next three months, they were done unsupervised and monitoring of falls was done monthly once. At the end of six months, the outcome measures were checked and data analysis was done, results were interpreted. The study was done as part of Master's degree programme in Physiotherapy of the author.