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Abstract Background Physiotherapy has a significant impact on strength, mobility and balance in older adults but does the presence of frailty negate this? This study aimed to determine the benefit of a six-week physiotherapy intervention as part of an Integrated Care Programme for Older Persons (ICPOP) admission in frail older adults. Methods This was a retrospective observational study of frail older adults attending physiotherapy in ICPOP between 2022 and 2024. All patients had a Clinical Frailty Score of 4-6. Each patient referred to physiotherapy had strength assessments including Five Times Sit to Stand (5TSTS) & Grip Strength Test, mobility assessment including Timed Up and Go (TUG) and balance assessment using the Mini BESTest. Patients with pre- and post-admission outcome measures were included in the study. Patients were offered individualised interventions of strength, mobility, and balance rehabilitation once per week for six weeks. Data was collected from a hospital clinical system using Microsoft Excel. Results 82 patients were included in the data for 5TSTS with an average of 22.3 seconds pre physiotherapy intervention and 18.5 seconds post. 163 patients were included in the Grip Strength Test. Initial mean left/right grip strength was 17.0/18.9kg while final left/right grip strength was 18.2/20.2kg. 173 patients were included in TUG testing with an average of 23.1 seconds pre-physiotherapy and 16.9 seconds post. 41 patients were included in the balance data with mean score of 15.7 pre-physiotherapy intervention and 20.0 post. Conclusion Lower limb strength, mobility and balance had on average minimally clinical important differences (MCID) post physiotherapy intervention despite the presence of frailty. The MCID was not achieved for grip strength potentially reinforcing the appropriateness of grip strength as part of the frailty phenotype.
Hassett et al. (Sun,) studied this question.