Long-term care and locomotive organ health
With this increase in the elderly population, more and more people are becoming concerned about the health problems of aging. The greatest concern is about becoming bedridden or demented and thus requiring nursing care. In 2001 the major reasons for which the elderly aged 75 or older needed long-term care services included cerebrovascular disorders (21.1%), dementia (12.9%), and importantly, problems related to the locomotive organs, such as falls/fractures (13.6%) and joint disorders (10.6%). Nevertheless, the diseases that people most hope to avoid when they get older are cancer, dementia, cerebrovascular disorders, and heart disease, in that order, and concerns about problems related to the locomotive organs are, in fact, ranked much lower.
In the past it has often been pointed out that physical exercise is important. In its long-term care-prevention programs, the Japanese government has promoted improvement of locomotive ability in the elderly as a means of preventing geriatric syndrome or disuse syndrome. In spite of these countermeasures, there still seems to be a lack of awareness among the general public that diseases of the locomotive organs can cause a person to become bedridden or to require long-term nursing care.