Seniors should be walking. These regulations discourage it.

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

There’s an editorial in today’s Washington Post supporting something you have emphasized. It notes that nursing homes prioritize limiting fall risk and ignore the risks of loss of mobility and strength and argues this should change.

It concludes “Seniors entering nursing homes deserve better than the current standards. They deserve a system that measures whether they leave stronger than they arrived. That is not a radical demand. It is the bare minimum a recovery system should provide.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/02/17/medicare-mobility-seniors-nursing-homes/ or https://archive.is/20260217120226/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/02/17/medicare-mobility-seniors-nursing-homes/

2

Indeed.

Unfortunately, the risks of falls are real, and these facilities are generally severely under-staffed to facilitate much more frequent, safe physical activity among patients – similar situation in acute care hospitals like where I work.

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