Papers by Purani A Bogahawatta
Globally, falls are a major public health problem that can cause morbidity, including fracture an... more Globally, falls are a major public health problem that can cause morbidity, including fracture and disability, and mortality in older people. Exercise therapy is widely recommended, and it is frequently regarded as the gold-standard strategy for preventing falls in both community-dwelling and institutionalized older people. This review synthesizes published findings on feasible, low-technology, low-cost equipment, and easy-to-follow effective fall prevention interventions in healthy older adults. According to the evidence presented in this review, home-based balance and strengthening training programs utilizing low-cost equipment such as foam balance pads, steps, dumbbells, and elastic bands are more cost-effective and feasible exercises for fall prevention in older adults who do not have cognitive impairments. The Otago program, Lifestyle Approach to reducing Falls through Exercise (LiFE) program, and Ossébo exercise program are some of the best-known examples. Physiotherapists will benefit from this updated review, which rates different simple fall prevention programs used worldwide for both community-dwelling and institutionalized older adults.
International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, 2022
In physical therapy, outcome measurements (OM) are essential for measuring patient's condition ov... more In physical therapy, outcome measurements (OM) are essential for measuring patient's condition over time, quantifying observations, improving communication, and optimizing patient care efficiency. This study aimed to identify the current use of outcome measurements and to investigate the facilitators and barriers for the use of OM among physiotherapists working in Sri Lanka. A cross-sectional study was conducted among physiotherapists who were recruited from government and private hospitals through a validated survey questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were performed using SPSS. The sample comprised 77 participants (males=32.5%; females=67.5%). Ninety-seven percent of the respondents used OM in their clinical practice. Outcome measurements were mainly applied to identify the baseline health status, and diagnostic purpose by 59 (26%) and 58 (25.6%) of respondents, respectively. The three most frequently reported OM were "range of motion/goniometric value" (12.8%), "manual examination of muscle strength" (12.1%) and "visual analogue scale/numeric analogue scale" (10.9%).Physiotherapists' positive perspective towards OM was the main facilitator (95%). The other facilitators were sufficient knowledge to use OM (87%) and adequate training in the use of OM (80%). The main barrier to using OM was time constraint (58%) during the treatment. The working setting and the number of patients treated per day was independently associated with frequent use of OM (P<0.05). The relatively high use of OM, positive perspective, adequate knowledge and skills to administer OM as facilitators, as well as time constraint as a perceived barrier to use OM, were all significant findings in this study.
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Papers by Purani A Bogahawatta