We are often asked to speak about fall prevention measures. I thought it would be helpful to discuss fall prevention here as well.
Just how big of a deal is falling?
A few facts:
- Roughly 40% of all seniors will suffer a fall this year. In the United States, this means that over 12 million seniors will fall this year.
- One in five falls will result in hospitalization.
- The most common injury is a hip fracture – and 40% of seniors admitted for hip fracture will never return home.
- Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury among elderly adults. 25% (or 1 in 4) seniors will die within one year of falling.
- 70% of all falls happen inside your home, or just outside your home. Making your home safer can help prevent a majority of falls.
Or, perhaps less scientific, simply ask yourself if you personally know an elderly adult that has had a major fall incident? Chances are you know at least one person that has had a major injury as a result of falling.
According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), the following four basic steps can help prevent most falls:
1. Begin a regular exercise program.
Exercise is one of the most important ways to reduce your chances of falling. It makes you stronger and helps you feel better. Exercises that improve balance and coordination (like Tai Chi) are the most helpful.
Lack of exercise leads to weakness and increases your chances of falling.
Ask your doctor or health care worker about the best type of exercise program for you.
2. Make your home safer.
- Remove things you can trip over (such as papers, books, clothes, and shoes) from stairs and places where you walk.
- Remove small throw rugs or use double-sided tape to keep the rugs from slipping.
- Keep items you use often in cabinets you can reach easily without using a step stool.
- Have grab bars put in next to your toilet and in the tub or shower.
- Use non-slip mats in the bathtub and on shower floors.
- Improve the lighting in your home. As you get older, you need brighter lights to see well. Lamp shades or frosted bulbs can reduce glare.
- Have handrails and lights put in on all staircases.
- Wear shoes that give good support and have thin non-slip soles. Avoid wearing slippers and athletic shoes with deep treads.
3. Have your health care provider review your medicines.
Have your doctor or pharmacist look at all the medicines you take (including ones that don’t need prescriptions such as cold medicines). As you get older, the way some medicines work in your body can change. Some medicines, or combinations of medicines, can make you drowsy or light-headed which can lead to a fall.
4. Have your vision checked.
Have your eyes checked by an eye doctor. You may be wearing the wrong glasses or have a condition such as glaucoma or cataracts that limits your vision. Poor vision can increase your chances of falling.
Can fall detection help?
While we would love to rid the world of falling, all of the fall prevention measures combined will never completely eradicate falls. Just as traffic safety, driver education, and the advent of anti-lock brakes won’t eliminate the need for the safety belt in automobiles, there will always be a need for accurate and reliable fall detection. You might ask if this is a fair analogy? After all, safety belts are a form of intervention – helping to protect an individual in the case of impact. Fall detectors do not necessarily act as an intervention. However, there are three exceptions:
Fast Response. Detecting falls in a timely manner is critical. Because many seniors are unable to get up on their own, detecting the fall and sending help does indeed save lives, and prevent the extent of the injury. I recently heard a tragic story of a senior left alone for three days following a fall. Miraculously, she returned home but because of her long lie on the ground, she was required to have an arm and leg amputated. This story is tragic, but it does demonstrate that some fall related injuries are preventable by fast response.
Detect Minor Falls. Not all falls are debilitating. Several independent studies have shown that seniors are as much as four times more likely to have subsequent falls after having an initial fall. Being able to detect and track these minor falls, offer the ability to take action early, and potentially prevent the catastrophic falls.
Stay Confident and Active. Even legacy medical alarms have demonstrated an increased confidence among elderly adult users. Many seniors, afraid of falling, will limit their mobility and activity to avoid falling. However, this has the opposite effect as inactivity leads to muscle atrophy — a leading cause of falls. By using a fall detector like myHalo, seniors are often more confident knowing that help will be provided when they need it. This confidence leads to a more active lifestyle that slows muscle degeneration and can actually help to prevent falling.
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I am repeatedly astounded by the fact that in a humanity as intelligent and rational as ours, that so few people seem to pay attention to invaluable choices which are readily available to them to heighten their physical well being. It seems that a bulk of people are more interested in a quick fix in the form of a doctors visit and precriptions than in managing their own wellness process, and doing so in a way that is natural, predictable, and sustainable. That is what makes me appreciate efforts like yours to train and prompt individuals to executing. I hope that through these attempts, and others, that cognizance increases promptly and the population at large establishes to a outlook of personalized health that doesn’t rely upon specialists and drugs.
Thank you for the information I kind of knew some of that but you enlightened me on a little more.