No abstract

Older adults with pain are at particularly increased risk of recurrent falls. Clinicians working with recurrent fallers should routinely assess pain while pain specialists should inquire about older adults' falls history.

Older adults with CMP are significantly more sedentary than those of a similar sex and age without CMP. It appears that the avoidance of activities due to fear of falling is a significant contributory factor to SB in older adults with CMP.

This review provides provisional evidence that pain is associated with fear of falling (FOF), avoidance of activities due to FOF and falls efficacy in community dwelling older adults. Implications for Rehabilitation Pain is a common and pervasive problem in community dwelling older adults and can affect an individual's mobility, levels of physical activity and increase their falls risk. Psychological concerns related to falls, such as fear of falling (FOF), falls efficacy and balance confidence are also common and troublesome issues in older adults, yet the association with pain has not been investigated with a systematic review. This review provides provisional evidence that pain may increase older adult's risk of developing FOF, avoiding activities due to a FOF and impact their falls efficacy. In recognition of the findings of this review, clinicians working with older adults with pain should consider assessing psychological concerns related to falls and if necessary intervene if they identify an individual at risk.

Pain interference is an important contributing factor in each of the psychological concerns related to falls. Pain interference had the strongest impact on reducing falls efficacy and increasing older adults' concerns about the consequences of falling.