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Falls

As you get older, your chances of falling and breaking a bone or hitting your head increase. This is true for many reasons. For instance, age-related vision, hearing, strength, and coordination decline can affect your balance. Certain medicines you take may make you feel dizzy. Also, like many older women, you may have osteoporosis. Osteoporosis makes your bones weak. This means that even a minor fall could leave you with a broken bone. Read on to learn more about preventing falls.

Injuries

Falls are the most common cause of injury and injury-related death among older adults. This is not only from broken bones, but also traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI is brain damage caused by a sudden blow to the head — like a fall. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2005 alone, TBIs due to a fall caused nearly 8,000 deaths and 56,000 hospitalizations of Americans 65 and older.

If You Do Fall

If you do fall, don't panic! Do not try to get up too quickly or in the wrong position. This can make an injury worse. Remember, what you do after falling can cause more injuries than the fall itself!

Instead, take a few deep breaths and decide if you are hurt. If you think you are hurt, do not try to get up. Instead, call 911 or get help from a family member. But if you feel strong enough to get up, follow these steps:

If you can, crawl to a piece of stable furniture like a heavy chair, and pull yourself up. Face the front and put both hands on the seat.

Slowly, begin to get up. Bend the knee that feels the strongest. Keep the weaker knee on the floor.

Slowly turn around and sit in the chair.

Additional Resources

Publications

CHECK FOR SAFETY: A Home Prevention Checklist for Older Adults — The checklist asks about hazards found in each room of your home. For each hazard, the checklist tells you how to fix the problem. At the end of the checklist, you will find other tips for preventing falls.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/toolkit/Check%20for%20SafetyCOLOR.pdf

Costs of Falls Among Older Adults — This fact sheet explains how big is the problem, how are costs calculated and how costly are fall-related injuries among older adults.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/fallcost.htm

Falls in Nursing Homes — This fact sheet discusses how big the problem is, how serious are these falls, why do falls occur more often in nursing homes, what are the most common causes of nursing home falls, how can we prevent falls in nursing homes and do physical restraints help prevent falls.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/nursing.htm

Don't Let a Fall Be Your Last Trip: Who Is At Risk? (Copyright © AAOS) — Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries to older people in the United States. Each year, more than 11 million people older than 65 years of age fall. This is one of every three senior citizens. This site gives tips to prevent falls.

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00118

Fall prevention: 6 ways to reduce your falling risk (Copyright © MFMER) — You needn't let the fear of falling rule your life. Many falls and fall-related injuries are preventable with fall-prevention measures. Here's a look at six fall-prevention approaches that can help you avoid falls.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/fall-prevention/HQ00657/METHOD=print

Organizations

= Indicates Federal Resources

Content last updated March 5, 2009.