Working at Increasing Stability Through Exercise (WISE): Integrating Patient-Centered Exercise Coaching into Primary Care to Reduce Fragility Fracture

Site PI(s): Christopher Sciamanna, MD, MPH, Penn State College of Medicine, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Project Summary: Regular exercise can help older adults stay fit and avoid bone fractures. But many older adults don’t get enough exercise to stay fit and strong. After older adults fall and fracture a bone, they are less likely to exercise. Not exercising increases people’s risk of falling and makes them more likely to fracture another bone in the future.

This 3-year study compares two ways of reducing bone fractures and serious injuries among adults ages 65 and older who have previously fallen and fractured a bone:

• Normal follow-up care plus information about falls and exercise: In normal follow-up care, patients get treatment for their fracture and the medical conditions that may have caused their falls. They also get a screening for osteoporosis, treatment for osteoporosis if needed, and physical therapy and education about preventing falls.
• Normal follow-up care plus an exercise coaching program developed with patient input. The coaching program focuses on how to exercise safely.

Study Design: Pragmatic Randomized Control Trial

PaTH Partners:

• Johns Hopkins University (Kerry Stewart, Site PI)
• Penn State University (Jennifer Kraschnewski, Site PI)
• Temple University (Anuradha Paranjape, Site PI)
• University of Pittsburgh (Natalia Morone, Kathleen McTigue, Site co-PI)

Coordinating Center: Penn State University