This chapter presents initial steps toward building a new framework for research on the causes and treatments of mobility impairment in older adults. A major tradition in the mobility field has been to conduct research on a problem-specific basis where the theoretical framework is focused uniquely on that problem, rather than within a more general context of mobility and its complications. The chapter aims to underscore the similarities in the causes of different mobility problems and to propose that it is useful to approach them, at least on occasion, from a single conceptual framework. In addition, mobility impairment is a challenge for the society in which affected individuals live, since those who have impaired mobility, like everyone else, have daily needs to move around in their immediate and more distant environment. It is within this broad context that mobility problems in the elderly should be considered.
