Fall Prevention For Seniors
It may, or may not, surprise you to learn that injuries caused by falling are the leading cause of fatality and nonfatal trauma among seniors and the elderly in the United States.
Consider the facts: just under a third of people over the age of 65 will fall this year and 90 percent of the 300,000 hip fractures treated annually in the U.S. occur because of falls. On average, nearly 1,000 hip fractures occur every day.
“About half of hip-injured patients will make a full recovery,” says Dr. Boyd Haynes, of the Orthopaedic & Spine Center, “but about 20 percent will die within the first year and about 25 percent will go into a nursing home for at least a year after injury.”
Falls can be a major life-changing event that takes independence away from seniors. Prevention is key, so what can you do to prevent falling or injuries from falling? In consultation with your doctor, there are a number of preventive measures that you can take for your health and continued mobility:
