Patient selection: age > 70 years of age
Indications:
(1) not a hospital short stay
(2) no exclusions (below)
(3) written consent
Exclusions include:
(1) not walking prior to admission
(2) unable to follow the 3-step command on the Folstein MMSE
(3) end-of-life care
(4) needing more than 2 litres per minute of oxygen
(5) the presence of a chest tube or central line
(6) unstable or new onset angina
(7) ventricular arrhythmia
(8) diagnosed and symptomatic aortic stenosis
(9) moderate to severe congestive heart failure (New York Heart Association class 3 or 4)
(10) blood pressure greater than 180/120 mmHg
(11) acute musculoskeletal injury or inflammatory arthritis
(12) hip or vertebral fracture in the past 6 months
(13) severe chronic back or neck pain
(14) kidney failure requiring dialysis
(15) severe fixed or progressive neurological disease
