CATES: Older adults at higher risk for falls in winter months

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By Carol A. Cates, MSN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC

Chief Nursing Officer

Odessa Regional Medical Center

When it comes to accidental injuries in older adults, few things that scare me more than falls. I have seen it for myself as a nurse, and in the statistics about falls, falls cause very serious injuries and even cause death. I think that a lot of people when they think about falls, they assume falls from a height, and yes, those do happen, but the reality is that any fall in older adults can cause serious injury or death. As a matter of fact, in older adults, same level falls are one of the leading causes of accidental death. The reason falls scare me so badly is because when older adults start falling, they tend to fall repeatedly. Falling repeatedly is a little bit like Russian Roulette, eventually the person who has those repeated falls is going to have a fall that causes serious injury or kills them.

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Winter months are not helpful when it comes to falls either and the statistics bear that out. More falls happen in winter months than in other months of the year. One of those reasons is pretty obvious, snow and ice can cause slippery surfaces, which then leads to falls. But other issues are not so obvious. not just the snow and ice that cause more falls in winter months. Because the days are shorter, and the even during daylight the sun is less intense, poor visibility can lead to falls from encountering unseen obstacles. Age-related changes don’t help either, because as we age, we lose muscle mass and older adults can have issues with balance related to changes in the inner ear, vision changes, and medications which makes that accidental misstep on a icy surface or with an obstacle in the dark much harder to recover from without falling. Our reflexes also slow and many people have degenerative changes to joints, neuropathies, and/or chronic pain all of which also make it difficult to react quickly to rite oneself after a misstep.

Missteps aren’t just limited to the outdoors, the indoors have hazards too, like throw rugs and clutter, and if your house is like mine, we rearrange the furniture a bit to make room for the holiday decorations which means there are additional obstacles in living spaces and the “usual” ones can block well known paths.

There are many things you can do to prevent falls and to limit your risk for serious injury if you do fall. First talk to your primary health care provider about falls about your risk of falls and review your medications with them to see if any medications or combination of medications that could increase your risk of falling can be modified to reduce that risk. Also speak to your doctor about getting screened for osteoporosis. There are many treatment regimens available to reduce the risk of fractures with falls related to osteoporosis.

Next, make sure you are doing balance and strengthening exercises. I will honestly admit, this is one I nag my dad about constantly, getting out and walking, going to his gym and taking balance classes. Those things make a big difference! Make sure to get your eyes checked annually, and use any vision correction recommended by your eye doctor. Also talk to your eye doctor about getting a pair of glasses without progressive lenses if you use those. They sometimes make walking, especially outdoors, more difficult because objects low in the visual field of your glasses (which means the things on the ground that will cause you to trip or slip) are more difficult to see.

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At home, get rid of tripping hazards like throw rugs, make sure you have grab bars in the shower and by the toilet. If you have stairs, make sure there are railings to grab on both sides, and make sure you have plenty of light to see by using brighter bulbs or adding light fixtures (not ones you can trip over) to dark areas.

Please take every precaution you can against falls as you age, and if you are the loved one of an older person, talk to them about their fall risk. Falls are mostly preventable, and even when not, there are ways to help reduce injuries too. Make sure you are including your primary health care provider in those conversations as well, they are a fantastic resource for making you and your loved ones safer when it comes to falls.

The post CATES: Older adults at higher risk for falls in winter months appeared first on Odessa American.

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