What is Gerontology

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.