March 17, 2023 – When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently fell at a dinner in Washington, DC, he was unfortunately in a big group of his senior colleagues.
This was not the 81-year-old's first fall. In 2019, he fell at home and broke his shoulder. This time, he suffered a concussion and was recently discharged to an inpatient rehabilitation facility. Although McConnell didn’t suffer a skull fracture, the autumn and hitting his head made him a part of a statistic that shows that falls are more dangerous for older men than for older women.
This recent research, which was American Journal of Emergency Medicinegot here as a surprise to steer researcher Scott Alter, MD, associate professor of emergency medicine at Florida Atlantic University College of Medicine.
“We always hear about lower bone density in women, so we didn't expect there to be more skull fractures in men,” he said.
Alter said that as a clinician at a South Florida hospital, his emergency room setting was the proper setting for studying geriatric patients admitted on account of falls. Older “patients are at higher risk for skull fractures and intracranial hemorrhage, and we wanted to study every patient who came in with a head injury. However, about 80% of them were falls.”
Statistics show that falls of all types are incredibly common amongst older people: around 800,000 seniors find yourself in hospital yearly due to falls.
The figures show that the mortality rate from falls can also be increasing within the senior age group, by 30% from 2007 to 2016. Falls make 70% of accidental deaths amongst people aged 75 and over. They are also the leading reason for injury-related emergency room visits within the country.
Jennifer Stevens, MD, gerontologist and executive director of Florida-based Abbey Delray Southis aware of the grim numbers and frequently sees their consequences. “There are many reasons why seniors are at high risk of falls,” she said. “These include balance problems, declining strength, diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, side effects from their medications and more.”
Additionally, many seniors live in spaces that aren't necessarily designed for his or her limitations, and there are hazards in every single place of their homes. In summary, the chance of falls is in every single place. But there are steps seniors, their families, and even middle-aged people can take to mitigate and hopefully prevent dangerous falls.
Start early
While in lots of cases efforts to scale back fall risk begin after a fall, the time to handle the issue is long before you reach retirement age. Mary Therese Cole, a physical therapist and licensed dementia therapist at Manual Edge Physical Therapy in Colorado Springs, CO, says age 50 is an excellent time to start out addressing and caring for physical impairments.
“At this age, vision can deteriorate,” she said. “This is a major reason why older people stumble and fall.”
As our brains begin to age in middle age, the neural pathways from the brain to the extremities also begin to atrophy. The result’s that many individuals not lift their feet in addition to they once did, causing them to stumble more often.
“You're not old, but you're not a young whippersnapper anymore,” Cole said. “Any problems you have now will only get worse if you don't work on them.”
An excellent place to start out in middle age is to do each strength training and balance exercises. A licensed personal trainer or physical therapist can allow you to create a program that stops a lot of these impairments.
However, in case you are older and experiencing physical impairments, it’s best to see your primary care doctor and get an evaluation. “He or she can have you start regular physical therapy to identify any deficits and then correct them,” Cole said.
Cole said when she works with older patients, she tests their strength in standing up and sitting down in a chair, performs a manual strength test to envision the lower extremities, checks their walking stride and asks them about medical conditions equivalent to diabetes, previous surgeries and other ailments.
From there, Cole said, she will create a plan for the patient. Stevens also uses a program called “Be Active,” which allows her to check seniors in a wide range of areas, including flexibility, balance, hand strength and more.
“Then we offer them classes to correct their deficits,” she said. “It's critical that seniors have the ability to recover and not fall if they lose their balance.”
In addition to working in your physical limitations, it's also vital to take an in depth take a look at your house. “You can have an occupational therapist come to your home and do an assessment,” Stevens said. “They can help you rearrange and organize your environment to create a safer environment.”
Major and customary fall hazards in the house include runners, lack of an evening light for nighttime toilet trips, missing grab bars within the shower/bathtub, and furniture that blocks the trail.
Alter likes to refer seniors and their doctors to the CDC STEADI Program aimed toward stopping accidents, deaths and injuries amongst older people.
“This includes screening for fall risk, assessing factors you can change or improve, and other tools,” he said.
Alter also recommends that seniors confer with their doctor about medications, especially blood thinners.
“At a certain point, you have to weigh the benefits of disease prevention against the risk of injury from falls,” he said. “The risk of bleeding might be too high if the patient is at high risk of falling.”