Dr. Mackey attended the European Falls Festival in Umea, Sweden on Oct 1-2, 2019. She delivered a keynote presentation, entitled, “Breaking new ground! Compliant flooring to prevent fall-related injuries in older adults: Results from the Flooring for Injury Prevention (FLIP) Study.”

The Falls Festival displayed excellent examples of innovative practice and research in fall and injury prevention. A key take-home messages from Dr. Sallie Lamb (Cochrane Systematic Review author from University of Exeter) was that we have very solid evidence that strength and balance exercise programs prevent falls among community-dwelling older adults. What we need to do now is focus on implementing exercise to make a real public health impact.

Thank you to Festival conveners, Drs. Clemens Becker, Chris Todd, and Erik Rosendahl, for the invitation to attend. The Festival was organized expertly, from the opening ceremony delivered by the Umea choir to the instructor-led exercise breaks between talks that were so helpful for breaking up sitting. Umea was a beautiful city, with a picturesque river and incredible assortment of outdoor public art.