The role of exercise in falls prevention for older patients.

Falls prevention is a key area of health promotion that is familiar to all nurses who work with older people. However, the suggestion that t'ai chi should be used as a prevention intervention may be new to many nurses. The evidence supporting t'ai chi and many other forms of exercise have been evaluated within the National Institute for Clinical Evidence (NICE) falls guidance. This should enable nurses to look at the prevention interventions that they currently recommend and question the evidence for or against their effectiveness. Nurses should also be able to identify factors that may present as barriers to participation.