Michal Elboim-Gabyzon is a full-time lecturer and staff member at the physical therapy department of the University of Haifa (UOH). She has a bachelor’s degree (1999, TAU, with honors), master’s degree (2005, TAU), and PhD (2011, UOH) in physical therapy. She completed post-doctoral studies at the Biorobotics and Biomechanics Lab at the Mechanical Engineering Faculty at the Technion, Israel (2012), and at the Neuromuscular Research Laboratory, Schulthess Clinic, Zurich, Switzerland (2014-2015). Her primary research areas include application of physical agent modalities and electrical stimulation in rehabilitation, balance and gait capabilities of elderly individuals, fragility of the elderly and acute orthopedic rehabilitation. She has published articles in refereed journals.
Talk: The challenges of the elderly living in the modern world?
Summary: Frailty in the elderly is a common syndrome with a multi-factor etiology and is characterized by increased susceptibility to biological, physiological, and mental stressors. Frailty carries an increased risk of negative health events and outcomes including falls, incident disability, hospitalization, and mortality. The frailty syndrome is a dynamic progressive and chronic condition. Although it is reversible in the pre-frailty stage and in the early stages of frailty, it is irreversible in the advanced stage; however, its rate of progression can still be reduced to some extent, with the possibility of reducing and preventing complications while also improving quality of life.
Accordingly, screening, prevention, and treatment strategies are required to identify high-risk subsets and prevent complications and deterioration among the ever-growing elderly population worldwide.
This presentation will provide an overview of the current conceptual model of frailty including assessment tools. In addition, it will point out the urgent requirement to update the model and expand it according to the changing characteristics and needs of older people living in the community. The current “real life” of the elderly is a technological environment. The surrounded technological devices and interfaces affect the individual performance of basic and instrumental activities of daily living and all aspects of society including communication avenues, healthcare facilities, and leisure activities.
The suggested expanded conceptual model of frailty aims to cover the complexity and multidimensionality of modern life by incorporating new aspects related to the usage of technology by the elderly.
