If hard wood flooring is shined to much, and becomes slick, a slide/fall can be treacherous. I would think that, under old hard wood flooring, it would look pretty ugly. Actually, I've seen, on HGTV home remodeling programs, some pretty ugly looking stuff under old carpet and hard wood flooring.
Funny you should mention falling. One of the dogs spit up mucous on the floor a week ago. I was going into the bedroom ,did not see it and ,WHAM! Down I went &@$#(^$%@!. Damn I fell hard. Charley Horse like I have never had before. Even now almost two weeks later I am sporting a deep perple bruise running from my butt to the back of my knee.
I think older people can fall and get hurt whether they have carpet or hardwood on their floors. I prefer hardwood floors (but don't mind carpet in the bedroom)...our home has hardwood floors throughout the main rooms and some old vinyl flooring in the bathroom and walk in closet. I think as we age...we just have to be more careful...as falling happens a lot more often the older we get.
For what it is worth- four years ago I fell - my own stupid mistake- on carpet. I hit a small table with left knee that still is indented from the fall. My whole body has not been the same since. Oddly I started having all kinds of weird things happening since then.Mostly foot issues. Regardless that fall hurt enough I cried it hurt bad! My point being...a fall is a fall regardless of what it is on.
Somewhat off-topic here, but still about falling. I fell in ice/snow in the driveway of our house in Dec. 2006 in Colorado. That fall ended up requiring a rotator cuff surgery/physical therapy. After I got FROM (full range of motion) back in the shoulder, I talked to my wife about selling the house and leaving Colorado, and we did. I didn't want fall again and didn't want her to fall period. At the time I talked to her, we both thought it would be a good idea. Ok, since living here in northeastern Florida...…...I fell, in the middle of the summer, in the parking lot in front of our apartment. That fall required rotator cuff surgery/physical therapy on the other shoulder. Wife fell in the front office area of a company she was about to have a job interview with. No serious injury done. The day of that fall, we got rid of all of her high heeled shoes (only have Pumps now). Then, she fell at a Khol's Department store, where she accidently ran into an "end isle" display, knocked it over and fell. Got over that also. So, we know now we made a mental mistake leaving Colorado, due to me falling in ice/snow. Now we know that we can fall ANYWHERE.
Apologize if it's been mentioned, I don't recall seeing it: There are two kinds of falls as I see it, conscious and unconscious. If one realizes he is about to fall, having tripped, mis-stepped on stairs, dizziness, or almost any reason forewarning of the fall, one instantly tenses up, muscles tightening on bone connections, immediate view of the situation, quickly seeing obstacles: am I heading for a table, chair, countertop? We try to break the fall, sometimes, using hands and arms already having bones stressed........the impact can much more easily cause a fracture under such conditions. If one suddenly faints, or perhaps senses a faint, and foresees momentarily a fall possibility or sees nothing, his reaction may be different, perhaps no reaction at all, just keeling over, to land loose-jointed and pliable like a bag of dropped dry sand. Natural resilience under such conditions might just avoid a broken bone. It's always been said that a drunk plowing into a bridge abutment is less likely to be seriously injured than a tensed-up driver aware of imminent impact. Poor comparison, I know. Why care what kind of fall it was? EMTs might, doctor might, but we cannot "program" the type of fall we might experience. So, either kind of fall would be best avoided, in the perfect existence. Frank