Published 2-4-2015 | A Place for Mom Senior Blog | By Lisa Kernisan, MD
Fall Risks and Seniors
Seniors and families are often quite worried about falls, and with good reason. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 1-in-3 seniors fall at least once every year. In 2013, falls led to 2.5 million emergency room visits and over 700,000 hospitalizations.
Even when a fall doesn’t cause a serious injury, it’s often scary for seniors and their families. Plus, a fall is an important red flag: one of the strongest risk factors for future falls is having had a previous fall.
For these reasons, it is recommended that seniors be screened for high fall risk, and offered help preventing falls. But unfortunately, many primary care doctors are too rushed for time. Plus, most aren’t particularly trained to adapt healthcare to the needs of aging adults.
In other words, even if your parent does mention falls to their doctor, your parent may not get enough fall prevention help.
But, you and your parents can learn more about the most useful proven strategies for reducing falls, and ensure that your parent’s doctors haven’t overlooked an approach that can help.
5 Proven Approaches to Reduce Fall Risk
Let’s review five approaches that can be especially helpful to seniors who are at high risk for falls. If you’re able to attend a medical check-up with your parents, discuss following ideas at the appointment:
1. Medications Review
2. Check Blood Pressure While Sitting and Standing
3. Gait and Balance Evaluation
4. Home Safety Assessment and Modification
5. Vitamin D, 1000 IU per day
For details about each of these points, click here: http://www.aplaceformom.com/blog/2-4-15-geriatricians-prevent-falls/
