The risk of death or serious injury from falls is higher among those above the age of 65. Ensuring slips and falls don’t happen is crucial to minimizing this risk.

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Ensuring Slips and Falls Don’t Happen
The risk of death or serious injury from falls is higher
among those above the age of 65. Ensuring slips and falls
don’t happen is crucial to minimizing this risk.
Fall prevention is a vital area of geriatric care. The scope of
a slip and fall prevention program
in America is quite comprehensive.
According to the latest statistics by
the CDC (Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention), one of
three adults aged 65 or more falls
every year, though less than half of
those who fall actually discuss it
with their healthcare provider. The
number of nonfatal fall injuries in older adults was 2.3
million in 2010. The more worrying statistic though is that
approximately 21,700 elderly adults died that year from
unintentional falls.
The Elderly Fall More Often
When you’re young, you may fall while tripping over
something or you don’t watch where you’re going. In
adults, falling could be the result of an accident or a
medical condition that causes loss of balance, weakness or
vertigo. The elderly, on the other hand, fall more often and
more easily. There are many reasons why older adults are
more susceptible to falling:
- Loss of footing on wet or slippery ground or floor
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- Tripping over uneven surfaces such as sidewalks,
curbs, or floor elevations
- Slowing down of reflexes
- Loss of muscle mass
- Osteoporosis
- Diminished vision
- Medication which causes drowsiness, dizziness,
confusion, disorientation, or slowed reflexes
So the risk of sprains, hip fractures and death is
significantly higher in elderly people who have a greater
tendency to fall.
Minimizing the Risk of Falls
It is therefore important to protect the elderly by
minimizing these risks of falling. This is what slip and fall
prevention programs are about – identifying the factors
which could cause a fall, be it physical or environmental,
and removing or avoiding them.
Multi-specialty healthcare centers offer comprehensive
slip and fall prevention programs. With a team of
experienced healthcare professionals in the fields of
orthopedics, neurology, advanced diagnostics, geriatric
care, pain management, physical therapy, rehabilitation,
and other related fields, a detailed analysis is carried out to
determine the elderly person’s risk of falling. A
personalized treatment plan is then developed to improve
strength, balance and walking speed and step length via
specific exercise and training programs.
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Removing Environmental Factors Causing Falls
The other major element of a slip and fall prevention
program by a reputed healthcare center involves identifying
and modifying the environmental factors in and around the
home that could trigger falls such as slippery floors, hurdles
in rooms or corridors, staircases and wobbly furniture.
One of the big advantages of the slip/fall prevention
program at a reputed healthcare center is that it is designed
to ensure that the elderly individual is able to maintain
his/her independence while improving mobility. It enables
the elderly to enjoy a better quality of life with lesser
chances of falling.
Posted by HealthQuest
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