If you or someone you love has started to feel less steady on their feet, you are not alone — and you are not imagining it. Falls are the leading cause of injury-related hospitalisation in older Australians, with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reporting that falls account for around 43 per cent of all injury hospitalisations. In Western Australia, one in three adults aged 65 and over falls at least once each year.
The important thing to understand is this: falls are not a normal or inevitable part of ageing. They are largely preventable, and physiotherapy is one of the most effective tools available for reducing fall risk, rebuilding strength and balance, and keeping people independent in their own homes and communities.
At Veen Physiotherapy, falls prevention physio in Bunbury is delivered as a mobile service, coming directly to you at home, in aged care, or in the community across the South West WA region. For people already experiencing balance difficulties or reduced mobility, that matters – because getting to a clinic should never be a barrier to staying safe.
Why Falls Become More Common With Age: Your Bunbury Physio Explains
Falls rarely happen for one reason alone. They are almost always the result of several contributing factors converging, and understanding those factors is where effective falls prevention physiotherapy in Bunbury begins.
As the body ages, natural changes occur that affect stability and reaction time, including reduced muscle strength, slower neuromuscular responses, declining balance and coordination, reduced flexibility, and changes in vision and hearing. Many older adults are also managing chronic conditions, such as arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, osteoporosis, or neurological conditions, each of which can independently affect movement, gait, and balance. Polypharmacy is another significant risk factor: multiple medications taken together can cause dizziness, drowsiness, or drops in blood pressure that dramatically increase fall risk.
Environmental factors compound all of this. Poor lighting, loose rugs, slippery floors, clutter, and unfamiliar environments all create hazards that a younger, more reactive body might navigate without incident, but that become genuinely dangerous when strength and reaction time are reduced.
What the Evidence Says About Falls Prevention Physiotherapy
The evidence supporting exercise-based physiotherapy for falls prevention is among the strongest in the entire field of musculoskeletal and ageing care.
A 2019 Cochrane systematic review, one of the largest and most rigorous in the field, analysed 108 randomised controlled trials involving more than 23,000 older adults. Exercise interventions, particularly those combining balance and functional training with strength work, reduced the rate of falls by 23 per cent and the number of people experiencing falls by 15 per cent. Programs that included three or more hours of exercise per week produced the strongest results.
The Otago Exercise Programme, developed in New Zealand and now implemented globally, is a physiotherapist-delivered home exercise programme specifically designed for falls prevention in older adults. Multiple trials have demonstrated that it reduces falls by up to 35 per cent in community-dwelling older adults, with benefits greatest in adults aged 80 and over.
Where Prevention Starts
Effective falls prevention in Bunbury does not begin with a generic exercise class. It begins with a thorough individual assessment of every factor contributing to your fall risk.
At Veen Physiotherapy, a falls risk assessment in Bunbury examines strength and muscle function across the lower limb and core, static and dynamic balance, gait analysis and walking pattern, reaction time and coordination, medication review in collaboration with your GP, footwear and assistive equipment needs, and home environment hazards where relevant. From there, a targeted falls prevention programme is built around your specific presentation, your goals, and the activities that matter most to your daily life.
What Treatment Looks Like
Falls prevention physio at Veen is not passive and it is not generic. Every programme is built around what your assessment reveals and what independence looks like for you.
Treatment for balance and falls prevention in Bunbury typically includes the following components.
Strength and balance rehabilitation. Progressive resistance and balance training directly addresses the neuromuscular deficits that increase fall risk. This is the core of the programme and where the evidence is strongest.
Gait retraining. For people whose walking pattern has changed due to pain, weakness, or neurological conditions, targeted gait retraining restores confidence and reduces trip and stumble risk.
Functional movement training. Practising the movements that carry the highest fall risk in daily life, standing from a chair, navigating stairs, reaching overhead, moving through doorways, in a controlled, progressive way builds both strength and confidence.
Assistive equipment prescription. When a cane, walker, or other mobility aid is appropriate, correct prescription and training in its use is essential. Poorly fitted or incorrectly used equipment can itself increase fall risk.
Education and self-management. Understanding your own risk factors, knowing how to move safely when changing position, pacing activity appropriately, and maintaining an ongoing home exercise programme all form part of lasting falls prevention.
The Cost of a Fall – and Why Early Intervention Matters
A fall is rarely just a physical event. Hip fractures, the most serious consequence of a fall in older adults, carry a one-year mortality rate of up to 33 per cent in Australian studies. Beyond fractures, falls cause soft tissue injuries, head trauma, and a profound loss of confidence that leads many people to restrict their activity — setting off a cycle of deconditioning that increases future fall risk further.
Fear of falling is itself a fall risk factor. Research consistently shows that people who restrict activity due to fear of falling experience greater strength and balance decline than those who remain active, even when both groups have similar baseline fall risk.
Early falls prevention physiotherapy in Bunbury interrupts this cycle before a fall occurs, or before a first fall becomes a pattern.
Mobile Falls Prevention Physio Across Bunbury and South West WA
As a mobile physiotherapy service, Veen Physiotherapy delivers falls prevention assessment and treatment directly to clients at home, in aged care facilities, and in the community across Bunbury, Australind, Eaton, Dalyellup, Carey Park, Busselton, Harvey, Collie, and throughout the South West WA region.
For older adults at fall risk, removing the need to travel to a clinic is not just a convenience – it allows treatment to take place in the actual environment where falls happen, making assessment more accurate and intervention more practical.
No GP referral is required. We accept clients under NDIS, DVA, WorkCover WA, WorkSafe Victoria, Home Care Packages, private health insurance, and private fee arrangements.
For falls prevention physio Bunbury, balance physiotherapy South West WA, or aged care physio near me, contact Veen Physiotherapy today or email hello@veenphysiotherapy.com.au.
References
Sherrington, C., et al. (2019). Exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD012424.pub2
Campbell, A. J., & Robertson, M. C. (2003). Otago Exercise Programme to prevent falls in older adults. Accident Compensation Corporation, New Zealand. https://www.acc.co.nz/assets/injury-prevention/otago-exercise-programme.pdf
Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine. (2022). Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention of Falls in Older People. https://www.anzsgm.org/resources/position-statements/
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2024). Injuries in Australia: Falls. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/injury/falls