VIEW AN ABSTRACT

Physiological deconditioning similar to that seen in spaceflight also occurs on Earth, especially as a consequence of the aging process and also due to bedconfinement and/ or immobilization. Illness or injury in older persons frequently requires hospitalized based care. However, the immobilization that occurs during hospitalisation is itself a major factor in physiological deconditioning and functional decline and in older persons can further contribute to a downward spiral of increasing frailty, dizziness upon standing up (orthostatic intolerance) and increased risk and incidence of falls.
Bedrest is used as a ground-based analog for studying the effects of weightlessness on physiological systems as seen during space flight. As older persons spend up to 80% of their time in hospital bedconfined, bedrest studies can also help in furthering our understanding of the deconditioning process during hospitalization in cardiac patients.