Insight into functional decline assessment in older adults: A physiotherapist's perspective

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the concept of functional decline in older adults from a physiotherapist's perspective. Throughout this paper, the author will shed some light on the conceptualization, identification, and assessment of functional decline among older adults. Also, a reflection on the role of physiotherapists in promoting healthy aging and how prepared they are to meet the changing demographic landscape will be discussed. A narrative literature review methodology was used to search for and analyze relevant articles that have been published in the past three decades. The reviewed materials included peer-reviewed publications that examined the assessment of physical functional decline in older adults. The assessment of functional decline in older adults is commonly done through one assessment measure at a time. Furthermore, assessments for functional decline often happen in emergency rooms when something catastrophic has taken place, such as a fall injury. The findings also suggest that multi-domain assessments are more useful than single-domain assessments in this population. One promising assessment tool for the identification of older adults who are at risk of developing functional decline that is specific to physiotherapy practice was identified and discussed. There is a need for further research to refine the assessment process, and to develop interventions to prevent or mitigate functional decline. Overall, this paper provides valuable insights into current assessment measures of functional decline in older adults relevant to physiotherapy practice and suggests potential areas for future research.