I searched and could not find a thread about the risk of falls to the elderly so, because of a recent experience, wanted to relate this story. We had an acquaintance who would visit once a month to go out to dinner and then back to our house to watch a movie. He was an almost life long acquaintance of my wife who sort of befriended us after the death of one of their mutual friends. Anyway, he was walking in his house one day, felt light headed and maybe passed out. He’s not obese but he is a bit stout. He did not fall backwards and hit his head. Instead, he just sat down hard onto the floor. When he came to his senses, his back hurt badly. He tried the usual stuff for a few days and finally went to the doctor. They admitted him into a hospital for multiple compression fractures of his spinal vertebrae. What follows went on for a number of months. They had him in a really uncomfortable brace for a period of time, trying to get his bones to heal. They eventually moved him out to a facility and started him on physical therapy. The pain was unrelenting. That facility decided they were not helping and sent him back to the hospital for vertebroplasty. After the vertebroplasty and some further rest, he again started physical therapy at the other facility because his insurance company wanted him out of the hospital, was not going to pay for prolonged stay. Again, the pain seemed unrelenting and he was not making any progress toward becoming really mobile. My wife had been keeping in contact with his sister periodically and she said that on her last visit, she was concerned because he was confused, and his short term memory seemed to be very sketchy. I told my wife that I really didn’t like the sound of that. So she called back the next day and his sister said she had talked to him that morning and he seemed much more lucid and back to himself so she was on her way to visit him again after his physical therapy session. He collapsed as they were getting him out of bed for it and died before she got there. I never did hear a believable cause of death, they said cardiac arrest. Definitely possible. However, when I searched the literature about compression fractures and possible spinal cord inflammation, there were a few very recent publications that were alerting doctors to be aware of possible dangerous brain inflammation accompanying spinal cord inflammation. Given the mental confusion and memory loss, I think that is certainly a contributing factor. Anyway, the point of this is that we all know about the risks of being old and falling. I am paranoid about it because of my bad back and consequential weakness and partial numbness in my legs. I don’t know if I’m paranoid enough. The issue is we all know how to walk by now, we all have a sense of balance, of course but we are daily, ever so slightly, losing our abilities. That last bit is insidious and, though we might think we’re practicing awareness and being careful, it might not be enough. So, all I want to say is first, do not underestimate our potential to fall under a wide variety of situations. And secondly, even a seemingly minor fall can be deadly as we become more fragile. Be careful out there.
A fall, in ice/snow at our old house here in Colorado, was the main reason we moved out of Colorado. That fall required a rotator cuff surgery/rehab in my right shoulder. Then, on a bright/sunny day, while living in Jacksonville, Florida, I fell in the parking lot of our apt. complex. Again, that fall required a rotator cuff surgery, but in the left shoulder this time. Then, we both thought, "we weren't thinking when we left Colorado that either of us could fall anywhere, including on a bright/sunny/warm day in Florida." So, after 10 1/2 years in Florida, we decided to move back to Colorado. We missed certain things Colorado had, that Florida didn't. But, on the first night we were in our new apartment in Colorado, I took a shower, but there was no shower mat in the shower. I went to turn around, slid and came flying out of the shower and hit the top of my nose, close to my eye, on the corner of the sink. I was able to stop the bleeding, but my wife talked me into going to nearest ER. They looked at it, gave me a Tetanus shot and the spot had to have stitches both inside and out. Only a few, but there is a small scar. We are both very, very aware of not falling. If we have to walk in snow/ice now, we have hiking boots we wear that are very good for walking thru snow/ice. But, falling is most definitely NOT something that a Senior wants to happen. It can be very serious and sometimes, deadly.
I wrote a thing on falling awhile back (while living up in the mountains) Falling down At the age of four, one falls on a regular schedule. No big deal Yer close to the ground anyway Get up Run Fall down Repeat When in yer late sixties, falling down is akin to plunging off the edge of the Grand Canyon Seems about the same space of time to mentally adjust with several choice expletives Once you’ve determined yer goin’ over, and have made one or more feeble attempts at grabbing (helplessly flailing) at something on the way down, like a small animal or a board with a rusty nail in it, you come to the grim reality that there’s just no stopping you, yer gonna hit. Hard Fleeting thoughts of childhood pets, Felecia Moorhead’s heaving cleavage, and health insurance premiums rush thru. The landing..style points I’ve never ever landed well. Even in high school football, where you practice it, forever it seems. Drop and roll for me was slowly crouching down and flopping over, immediately losing any location orientation. I was a pretty good second baseman and shortstop, with good hand/eye coordination, but range...didn’t dare stretch out for the hot liner, could topple over, those were for outfielders. The somersault has been an unattainable challenge, since early on in life, even though Connie Ekbert and her holey underwear showed me the main gist of the mechanics, in slow motion, several times... Types There’s the falling up A couple/three months ago I stubbed my toe on a curb, going in to a Goodwill Store. Went down Landing on my palms But that one didn’t count so much. I fell kinda across, not down. Now, coming off a curb, where the front half of the foot begins to point down, while the back half remains on the curb..heh...that one’s a beaut. There’s a forward thrust, like some hit man from behind just pushed you into the subway rails. That one doesn’t give you the grace period of fond childhood memories Maybe a broken expletive Maybe Then there’s the WTF one, where it seemingly takes nothing more than a pebble on the road, or twig in the forest. This may be attributed to the gait of a vague shuffle after a day of performing feats of long gone youthful brawn in the company of younger folk half my age. Pain I used to just wince, then find my way back up But I no longer experience pain....if...I land on my palms (scar tissue). If I happen to go down around a crowd of people, I notice they are the ones doing the wincing and grimacing. Now I just crawl over to an object higher than my waist, hoist myself up, give the concerned crowd a Nixon victory sign, and hobble on my way. So far, I’m good with it all. Figger it’s God’s way of keeping me humble. (fell on the ice yesterday...thought I better write these thoughts down while my wrists still function)
We always say cause we are Aussies with a sense of humour ….it’s not the fall that hurts us it’s the sudden stop when we hit the floor / ground @Gary O'Dan I slipped / one leg spits …..on gum nuts on a footpath in the city ( suburb) 2 years ago and fractured my leg ankle it’s never healed properly…I used to have a bit of a cocky confidence of walking on any surface prior to that ….not now
I have fallen 4 times since 2017 w hen I came home from a 4.5 mo rehab for a staph infection in my damaged knee from hip replacement. All 4 times I had to dall 911 fo get me up. I have a friend who is is mid 90's and she fell into her tub and layed there crying for help for 2 hrs...she finallly got help and 911 got her up. Just heard a neighbor's husband fell in tub while taking shower and she had to call 911 for him. Bottom Line, Americans are obsessed with showers even into late years and many die in the shower. Learn to wash oneself with washclothes, wipes etc and stop stressing about NEEDING to forever showing. I took showers every day for the first 60+ yrs of my life....
Questions about falls when I'm seeing my doctor are sometimes uncomfortable. Once someone becomes a senior, falls are too often treated like coughs are in movies. When someone coughs in a movie, it nearly always means that we're soon going to learn that they have cancer or that they are dying of some other illness, whereas, in real life, people cough for any number of reasons, most of them not fatal. In my seventy-one years of life, I have fallen from time to time since I first learned to walk. Sometimes, I fall because I'm doing something risky, while, at other times, I might fall because I'm simply not paying attention, or I might be walking through the woods, or a swamp, where the terrain is uneven and filled with obstacles. I might fall because I'm walking on ice or running down the stairs. But when you're a senior and you answer yes to a question from your doctor about whether you have fallen, the presumption is that you are now too old and feeble to be trusted walking by yourself. Now, if I were to fall because my legs simply quit working or if I were to pass out while walking across a floor, that might be something of legitimate interest to a doctor. Otherwise, I'll lie and answer no to that question. At 71, and overweight, I'm not as steady on my feet as I once was, but I shouldn't be expected to be. I don't expect myself to be, which is why I now pay someone to clean the snow off of my roof when that needs to be done, but it doesn't mean that I'm ready for a cane, a walker, or a wheelchair, although a handicapped placard might come in handy. I hate having to park halfway across the parking lot.
First - all showers regardless of age should have bars installed. 2016, I fell while putting up groceries, was my own fault. It was a very hard fall that left a permanent dent in my left knee. I have never been the same since. Then in 2020 when I came down with eosinophilic, I fell outside after a rain ,and fell in wet and some muddy grass..much softer landing. So I have become paranoid about falling, and use my cane constantly, with my phone with me, even in the bathroom. My BFF fell this Christmas day and broke her hip in two places. She is still in therapy. It is all of us biggest fear, and we should use extreme caution, with all our movements. My legs no longer work well off and on, they are weak but I still get around very well - most days. Even then my cane I use, It is a crutch I can no longer live without.
Being aware of the possibility of falls when it comes to being a senior, I intentionally included a leg strength exercise in my exercise routine. It's simply holding a 10 lb. dumbbell up against my chest and walking around with it. Much like a baseball better getting ready to go to the plate will warm up by swinging two bats around, it makes the one bat he uses seem lighter. Also, meds used to lower blood pressure can drive your pressure too low and you get light headed and your knees buckle. It happened to me so I had the doctor prescribe another.
It's weird to have reached the age where we're concerned about falling, but that's the reality of aging. I've taken a few measures to make our home safer, like investing in a good shower mat and non-slip bathroom rug. I'm constantly on the lookout for "fall hazards," like when hubby leaves his shoes at the bottom of the stairs. We never use the step ladder unless one of us is home, just in case. When I go for walks in the winter, I avoid walking on ice. Fortunately, at this time, we have no balance issues. Regular walking keeps our legs strong. Mine are ridiculously muscular...partly because of the walking and partly because of my Eastern European heritage.
Yes, and then there's the cat! Fortunately, ours is 15 years old and has learned to not get underfoot! I think he understands because he's a senior like us. LOL
It only took me one wild (arms flailing) fall in the bathtub to know I needed a good bath mat, @John Brunner ! Now, we have several bars installed as well for help getting in and out when I am having “wobbly days”, and I am thankful to have all of that. A few years back, I tripped out in the yard and whole-body crashed face first , and in the summer, the clay here is like crashing onto cement. I think that was what sent my heart back into a-fib again; so now I am really careful and worry a lot about falling. Instead of the “strider” that I have been most of my life, I am now a “tippytoe-er” and watch every step.