Adelaide's judo falling course for aged care staff lifted their own safe-falling skills 89%

Adelaide University researchers have trained aged care staff and judo coaches to teach older adults how to fall safely, and after a two-day workshop the instructors' own safe-falling skills rose 89%. The study, in the Australasian Journal on Ageing, measured the instructors, not the older people they will teach, according to a university release dated November 2, 2026.

The idea borrows from judo, where learning to land is one of the first things a student practises. Falls are the main cause of injury-related hospital stays among Australians over 65, and around one in four people in that age group falls at least once a year, the release says.

Teaching the teachers

About 16 people took part, a mix of judo coaches and allied health workers who work in aged care. According to the release, most of them had no judo experience or no experience working with older adults, so each group had to learn the other half of the job.

The course was a two-day workshop followed by eight practical sessions. It covered the physics of a fall, safe exercise for older bodies and how to roll or land when falling backward, forward or sideways. The techniques come from the Dynamic Balance for Life Safe Falling program and the Adelaide University Judo Club.

What changed, and what was not measured

After the workshop, participants' own safe-falling skills improved by 89% and their perceived competence in teaching the techniques rose 77%, according to lead researcher Agathe Daria Jadczak, an exercise scientist at the university's School of Medicine. Their knowledge of the subject also improved significantly.

The release reports no results for older adults from this study, and it does not mention a control group. Its case rests on earlier evidence that judo-based programs can reduce fear of falling and improve balance. What this study shows is narrower: that people with no judo background, or no aged care background, can be trained quickly to deliver the classes.

That matters because a program is only as available as its instructors. A two-day course is short enough for aged care providers to fit into normal staff training.

Already in a gym

One instructor has started using the material. Meagan Trollope, a physiotherapist at Resthaven Northern Community Services, said she added some of the modified techniques to weekly gym classes for clients aged 75 to 85 who have had falls and need to build strength and balance.

The researchers want the program rolled out across community and clinical settings. The open question is the one the study did not test: whether older adults taught by these newly trained instructors fall less often or get hurt less when they do.