Abstract

Being able to theoretically underpin the gerontology of ageing is a fundamental part of designing and
constructing bespoke research and care interventions for the exploration of falls prevention in practice.
Within the context of home care and community based settings being able to integrate falls prevention into
the integrated care that older people receive, their ambulation, health and wellbeing and subsequently their
longevity in senior years can be extended and sustained in terms of quality and satisfaction. This chapter
contextualises and frames falls and fall injuries as a societal challenge by deconstructing the characteristic
physiological processes of senescence and identifying key areas for fundamental address in the prevention
of falls ‘in situ’. Chapter focus is predominantly aligned to those processes of natural senescence aligned
with normal ageing processes, alongside those pathologies which constitute abnormal pathological
processes, which occur more often in older adults as a consequence of these processes of senescence.