Exercise and fall-related injuries in community-dwelling older adults: an updated review
In this abstract of an updated review of 29 randomized trials with 6367 community-dwelling older adults, exercise interventions were associated with fewer fall-related injuries, injuries needing medical attention, severe injuries and fractures. The abstract does not report which exercises were used. [1]
Automatic summary · not editorially reviewed
The key findings
The review included 29 randomized controlled trials with 6367 community-dwelling older adults and searched four databases to April 2, 2026. [1]
Exercise intervention significantly reduced all fall-related injuries (risk ratio 0.87, 95% confidence interval 0.80 to 0.95) based on 19 studies. [1]
Fall-related fractures were reduced (risk ratio 0.56, 95% confidence interval 0.37 to 0.85) based on 11 studies, with low to moderate heterogeneity. [1]
The source at a glance
- Study type / format
- Updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (abstract).
- Population / context
- Community-dwelling older adults in randomized controlled trials.
- Summary based on
- Study abstract
- Original publication
- August 26, 2026
Exercise review in community-dwelling older adults
The abstract describes an updated systematic review and meta-analysis asking whether exercise interventions reduce fall-related injuries in older adults living in the community. The authors searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and CINAHL from inception to April 2, 2026, and included randomized controlled trials. Outcomes were all fall-related injuries, injuries requiring medical attention, severe injuries and fall-related fractures. Pooled risk ratios with 95% confidence intervals came from a random-effects model; risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane RoB 2 tool and evidence quality with GRADE. The review followed PRISMA 2020 and was registered in PROSPERO.
Supporting source [1]
Lower injury rates across four outcomes
Twenty-nine randomized controlled trials with 6367 participants were included. Exercise intervention significantly reduced all fall-related injuries based on 19 studies (risk ratio 0.87, 95% confidence interval 0.80 to 0.95), injuries requiring medical attention based on 11 studies (0.71, 0.57 to 0.89), severe injuries based on 8 studies (0.67, 0.54 to 0.83) and fall-related fractures based on 11 studies (0.56, 0.37 to 0.85). Heterogeneity was low to moderate. The authors conclude that exercise can effectively reduce fall-related injuries and fractures and may contribute to healthy aging and injury prevention.
Supporting source [1]
Abstract-only scope of the exercise review
This explainer is based only on the abstract; the full text was not reviewed. The abstract does not describe the type, intensity, duration or supervision of the exercise programmes, nor the participants' ages or settings beyond living in the community. It also does not report how many trials contributed to each outcome beyond the counts given, or the GRADE ratings. The results are pooled associations from randomized trials, not proof that any single exercise programme prevents injuries.
Supporting source [1]
How to interpret this
Abstract only; the full text was not reviewed. Exercise type, intensity, duration and supervision, participant ages, GRADE ratings and per-outcome trial details beyond counts are not reported in the abstract. Pooled associations from randomized trials do not establish that a specific programme prevents injuries.
Based on the study abstract; the full paper, tables and supplementary data were not reviewed.
Source & supporting passages
Ge B, Luo J, Cheng X, Wang D, Liu R, Liao X. · europepmc.org · August 26, 2026