What Should Senior Citizens Do To Avoid Falls?

What should senior citizens do to avoid falls

Did you know that many people fall every year? Falls are the main reason for both nonfatal and fatal injuries for people aged 60+. Falls can contribute to head injury, a broken bone, hip fracture, hand injury, foot and ankle injury. And even falls without any injury can also develop depression and fear in adults. Fear of fall can make it difficult for them to stay active.

If you have a grandparent, aging parent, or neighbor, assisting them in decreasing their risk of falling is the best way to support them stay independent and healthy for as long as possible. Before helping older adults, you need to understand the lead causes of their falls. Once you understand the particular fall factors, it will be simple to focus on the fall prevention strategy. By utilizing balance therapy & fall prevention in Glenn Dale, MD, you can avoid the risk of falling.

  1. Personalized fall prevention works better than normal fall prevention. Some different conditions and factors can lead to falling. Some of them are given below:
  2. Vision:  Vision is the most common issue that can lead to falls. People with vision issues may experience falls and injuries
  3. Chronic condition: More than 70% of old people have at least one chronic condition: arthritis, stroke, or diabetes. Chronic conditions can decrease movement, balance, and physical strength. So it can increase the risk of falling.
  4. Medication: Some over-the-counter medications and prescriptions can develop dehydration or dizziness that can lead to a fall.
  5. Balance and gait:  As we age, most lose balance, flexibility, physical strength, coordination, and body function
  6. Unsafe footwear: Unsafe footwear like high heels or backless shoes can also maximize the risk of falling
  7. Confusion: Confusion can sometimes lead to falls

You Should Consider The Three Crucial Fall Risk Factors

  1. Environmental risk: These are things like risky footwear, outside hazards, or home hazards. It can also include the inappropriate use of a cane, walker, or other assistive devices
  2. Health-based risk: This category includes things like medication side effects, chronic illness, weakness issues, vertigo, balance issues, and vision problems.
  3. Triggers: These are occasional or sudden events that cause a challenge to strength or balance.  

You will be happy to know that most falls can be prevented. By doing some physical exercises and activities, you can improve physical strength and restore body balance. Balance therapy & fall prevention in Glenn Dale MD can decrease the chances of falls.

Tips To Prevent Falls:

You can decrease the chances of falling by taking care of your overall health. You can avoid falls and broken bones by considering the following tips:

  1. Stay physically active: Develop an exercise program to stay active and healthy. Regular exercises improve muscle strength and make you stronger. An exercise program can help you to keep your ligament, tendons, and joints flexible. Some mild weight-bearing exercises like climbing stairs, walking, or cycling may decrease bone loss from osteoporosis.
  2. Understand the side effects of medicine you take: if you are taking any medicine, find out the side effects. If a medicine makes you dizzy or sleepy, consult with your pharmacist or doctor.
  3. Stand up slowly: Getting up too quickly can lead to your blood pressure dropping. This condition can make you feel wobbly
  4. Get enough sleep: You are more likely to fall if you are sleepy
  5. Avoid alcohol: If you are alcohol addicted, you should avoid alcohol. A high amount of alcohol can affect your brain and balance. Drinking alcohol can maximize the risk of falls
  6. Find out your ear and eye-related issues: If you are experiencing ear or eye-related disease, it can lead to falling. You can decrease the risk of falling by treating your ear and eye disease
  7. Physical therapy: Physical therapy is one of the best options to treat balance disorders and prevent falls. Physical therapy treatment includes a combination of manual therapy and various physical exercises to improve your overall physical health. In this treatment, physical therapists will help you find out the leading cause of falls and develop a personalized physical therapy treatment. A personalized physical therapy program will help you improve your health condition and prevent future falls and injuries.

    • A skilled and licensed physical therapist will work with you to improve your life quality. They will also help you to improve your poor sitting and sleeping posture. Physical therapy can also help you to prevent age-related issues and symptoms of other physical diseases.
    • Many doctors and experts recommend physical therapy because it is a natural and safest approach to reduce pain and treat physical conditions. There are different benefits of physical therapy, such as improving physical strength, mobility, balance, range of motion, independence, and restoring the ability to do everyday work without any pain. You can visit the physical therapy clinic for balance therapy & fall prevention in Glenn Dale, MD.

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