Home > Staff

Stephen Lord

Professor Stephen Lord, BSc, MA, PhD, DSc

Personal History

Professor Stephen Lord is a Senior Principal Research Fellow at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute in Sydney, Australia. Over the last 20 years, he has worked in the areas of applied physiology, instability, falls and fractures in older people. Professor Lord’s research on falls has followed two main themes: the identification of risk factors and the evaluation of prevention strategies. His studies have involved large prospective population studies and randomised controlled trials for assessing the effectiveness of exercise and targeted programs in improving vision, strength, balance and co-ordination and preventing falls in community dwelling people and residents of retirement villages. With colleagues at the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, he has recently written a comprehensive book on Falls in Older People - published by Cambridge University Press.

Current Appointments

• Senior Principal Research Fellow, NHMRC

• Conjoint Professor, UNSW

Current Projects

• Protective stepping: aims to systematically investigate sensory, motor, neural, mechanical and psychological determinants of appropriate and impaired responses to postural perturbations and determine the role that impaired stepping plays in falls.

• Fear of falling and risk taking behaviours: aims to investigate prevalence and associated factors of fear of falling in older people.

• Development of safe footwear: aims to systematically investigate how various features of shoes relative to heel height, sole hardness, heel collar height and slip-resistance affect balance in older people. 

• Visual Intervention Strategy Incorporating Bifocal and Long-distance Eyewear: aims to determine whether the provision of single-lens distance glasses to elderly multifocal glasses wearers, together with recommendations for wearing them for standing and outdoor activities, can reduce falling rates over a 12 month period.

• Falls in cognitively impaired older adults: to develop our understanding of the important factors that contribute to risk of falling in older people with cognitive impairment and dementia.

• Falls risk assessments for ambulance officers and emergency departments: Aims to develop and validate simple fall risk screens for these health service providers.

• Falls risk assessments for people in rehabilitation hospital wards: Aims to develop and validate simple fall risk screens for this health care setting.

Research Team

• Dr Daina Sturnieks, Research Officer. NHMRC Protective Stepping Project.

• Dr Kim Delbaere, Research Officer. NHMRC Fear of Falling Project.

• Dr Anne Tiedemann, Research Officer. Fall risk Assessment Project

• Dr Cathie Sherrington, NHMRC Australian Research Training Fellow. Research Associate

• Dr Jacqueline Close, Senior Research Associate, Geriatrician.

• Ms Mamta Porwal, Research Assistant. Visual Intervention Strategy Incorporating Bifocal and Long-distance Eyewear Project.

• Ms Layla Roberts, Research Assistant. Fear of falling and risk taking behaviours Project.

• Ms Jodie Martin, Research Assistant. Falls in cognitively impaired older adults Project.

• Ms Morag Taylor, Research Assistant. Falls in cognitively impaired older adults Project.

• Ms Betty Ramsey, Research Assistant, Preventing falls in people following a hospital stay project

• Ms Jac Zheng, Research Assistant. Fear of falling and risk taking behaviours Project.

• Ms Teresa Orr, Research Assistant, Fall risk Assessment Project

• Ms Sandra O’Rouke, Research Assistant, Preventing falls in people following a hospital stay project

• Ms Esther Vance, Project Officer. NSW Falls Network.

• Ms Jasmine Menant, PhD Student. Effect of footwear on balance and gait in older people.

• Ms Rebecca St George, PhD Student (co-supervised by Richard Fitzpatrick). Vestibular, visual and somatosensory adaptation for orientation.

• Ms Marcella Kwan, PhD Student. Falls risk in older Chinese people living in Taiwan, Singapore and Australia

• Ms Annie Butler, BA PhD Student (co-supervised by Richard Fitzpatrick) Sensory fusion and perceptions of space.

• Dr Alfred Wong, PhD Student, Cardiovascular system risk factors for falls in older people

Key Publications

• Tiedemann, Anne C., Sherrington, Catherine, Lord, Stephen R. Physical and Psychological Factors Associated With Stair Negotiation Performance in Older People. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2007 62: 1259-1265

• St George R., Fitzpatrick RC, Roger MW, Lord SR. Choice stepping response and transfer times: effects of age, fall risk and secondary tasks. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2007 May;62(5):537-42.

• Menz HB, Lord SR, Fitzpatrick RC. A tactile stimulus applied to the leg improves postural stability in young, old and neuropathic subjects. Neurosci Lett. 2006 Oct 2;406(1-2):23-6. Epub 2006 Aug 10.

• Sturnieks DL, Wright JR, Fitzpatrick RC. Detection of simultaneous movement at two human arm joints. J Physiol. 2007 Oct 18; [Epub ahead of print]

• Lord SR. Visual risk factors for falls in older people. Age and Ageing 2006;35-S2:42-45.

• Lord SR, Menz HB, Sherrington S. Home environment risk factors for falls in older people and the efficacy of home modifications. Age and Ageing 2006;35-S2:ii55-59.

• Voukelatos A, Cumming RG, Lord SR, Rissel C. A Randomised Controlled Trial of Tai Chi for the Prevention of Falls: The Central Sydney Tai Chi Trial. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2007;55:1185-1191

• Sambrook PN, Cameron ID, Chen JS, Cumming RG, Lord SR, March LM, Schwarz J, Seibel MJ, Simpson JM. Influence of fall related factors and bone strength on fracture risk in the frail elderly. Osteoporosis International 2007;18:603-610

• Latt MD, Menz HB, Lord SR. Walking speed, cadence and step length are selected to optimize the stability of head and pelvis acceleration. Experimental Brain Research 2008;184:201-209