Paper Title
Falling Events Experienced by Stoop-Shouldered Elderly Persons Living in a Japanese-Style Houses Built by the Conventional Wooden-Frame Construction Method

Abstract
For elderly persons with kyphosis (stoop-shouldered elderly persons), the central axis tends to vary relative to the foot pressure center, making change of their posture difficult during walking. Moreover, it is concerned that the risk of falling increases due to many height differences on the floor surface in a Japanese-style house built several years ago. The objective of this study is to reveal the situations, in which stoop-shouldered elderly persons living in their old houses experienced falling events. The subjects of this study were three elderly persons, living in a their own two-story house built by the conventional wooden-frame construction method 30 to 40 years ago, who were in his/her early sixties to early nineties and required long-term care. The pictures of the places where they fell down were taken using a camera to collate with the drawings of their house. The result showed that falling events might be caused in the places where they turned over and/or stood up by out-of-date house, a lack of installed welfare equipment, and hardness to shift their weight due to stoop-shoulder. Keywords� Stoop-shouldered elderly persons, old Japanese-style house built by the conventional wooden-frame construction method, risk of falling, change of posture during walking, pictures taken using a camera.