Keep Exercising & Stay Steady: Development and Feasibility of a Health Intervention to Encourage Exercise Maintenance After Fall Prevention Exercise Programmes End.

Falls and broken bones are a common health problem faced by older adults. Worldwide, one third of adults aged over 65 years old, and half of adults aged over 80 years, fall each year. One in five falls in older adults result in hospitalisation and one in twenty cause broken bones. Each year, 300,000 older adults break a bone following a fall which costs the UK £4.4billion in healthcare costs. Broken hip bones are the most serious outcome of a fall. One in twenty older adults will die and one in five need care assisted living following a hip fracture. Muscles and bones become weaker after 50 years of age which increases an older adults' risk of falling and breaking a bone. Falls prevention programmes that include muscle strength and balance exercise improves physical function and helps to prevent falls and broken bones in older adults. However, many older adults stop doing exercise and b