Fall Prevention: Why Old People Fall Frequently?

A combination of exercises, both aerobic and anaerobic, around 20 minutes a day, can reduce the risk of a fall. Strengthening the hand grip muscles is a good idea, as it helps you to grab for safety and prevent a fall. Walk, bicycle, or climb stairs to strengthen the muscles of your legs and lower body.

- Nizar Abdul Majeedkutty

Falls are too common in the elderly population, and they have devastating consequences. They are the leading cause of injury and death by injury in adults over the age of 65 years. One of 3 community-dwelling older adults falls each year, with 24% of those who fall sustaining serious injuries and 6% sustaining fractures. Due to the ageing of societies worldwide, it is expected that falls and their related injuries will become a more prominent public health issue in the coming decades. The total healthcare costs spent on falls are high, partly due to the high incidence of falls, but also because of the high costs per incident. A person who falls may subsequently experience pain, hospitalization and surgical intervention, admission to long-term care facilities, loss of independence, poorer quality of life, or a fear of falling, and even death. Falls can cause fractures of the spine, hip, forearm, leg, ankle, pelvis, upper arm, and hand. Even when bones aren’t broken, falls can result in a trip to the emergency room. The safest and most effective way to prevent broken bones is to prevent falling. Many older adults are not aware they are at risk of falling until it happens. A study published in the medical journal JAMA found that for people over 75, the rate of mortality from falls more than doubled from 2000 to 2016. Elizabeth Burns, a health scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who was an author of the study, said the reason for the increase was unclear. “The most likely reason is that people are living longer with conditions that in the past they might have died from,” she said. In addition, she continued, older adults are on medications that increase their risk of falling. Women are slightly more likely to fall than men, but men are slightly more likely to die as a result of a fall. The biggest risk factor for falls that can’t be changed is your age. Most of the other risks can be mitigated.