Preventing falls in older adults: Multiple strategies are better

Despite considerable research and clinical effort, falls among people 65 and older are on the rise. An older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall every 11 seconds, with injuries ranging from simple cuts and bruises to broken bones. Hip fractures are the most serious injury from falls, and more than half of older adults hospitalized for hip fractures after a fall never regain their previous levels of mobility or quality of life. Further, falls are a leading cause of death among older adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an older adult dies from a fall every 19 minutes. Despite these sobering statistics, falls are not an inescapable part of aging; on the contrary, most falls are largely preventable.
Falls are particularly hard to study — and prevent — because no two falls are the same
Over the years I have interviewed hundreds of older adults who had recently suffered a fall, and one thing is clear: each fall occurs from the unique interaction of the person’s balance, the task they were performing just prior to the fall, and the ever-changing environment in which they were moving. All these things make it difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of a particular fall, and nearly impossible to uncover commonalities across all falls suffered by older adults.
The complexity of falls may be the key to their prevention
It is now quite clear that fall-prevention strategies that target just one factor with a well-known link to fall risk, ...

Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 22, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Brad Manor, PhD Tags: Caregiving Health Healthy Aging Injuries Safety Source Type: blogs