Exercise Intervention in Frailty, Challenges, and Recommendations

Abstract

Population ageing is accelerating rapidly worldwide. Ageing is accompanied by frailty, which attracts global attention. Frailty is associated with an increased incidence of adverse health outcomes, mortality and elevated healthcare burdens. It represented a catastrophic crisis for individuals and societies, especially in developed countries and, in the near future, for developing countries. Frailty is a potentially modifiable status where reducing the prevalence or severity of frailty is a critical issue. Although there is no standard care for frailty, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines strongly recommend physical activity as the core component of frailty treatment. Physiotherapists, one of the team members, are vital in identifying frailty in geriatric healthcare settings, as they are first-line providers and treat frailty-associated functional impairments. This chapter focuses on exercise training physiotherapists perform for older adults with frailty, challenges and recommendations.