Why Are More Older People Dying After Falls?

Because more people were living longer in 2023 than thirty years prior. Hence, more elderly people in our population means more will fall and eventually die. A bad fall for an elderly person has almost always been a death sentence since forever - no surprises there.

Judge Judy shared her secret to a long life at least 25 years ago.

Two words: DON'T FALL!

My Dad, who is 81, has started falling. We think it's hip-related, more than anything else.

People are living too long. They’re more heavily medicated and having more falls at elderly ages because these same people would have died at younger ages in past generations from heart disease and strokes. They are living to old ages today BECAUSE of all those medications they’re on.

Fewer doctors/competent ER departments, especially in small towns or rural areas, resulting in treatment delays from the initial fall?

For sixty years I never looked down at my feet. Those days are OVEH!

It used to be a 50% death sentence at that age, not from the fall but from the months later being bed ridden with a broken hip. I agree with r5, fewer doctors are as competent as before, they right off falling as sort of an expected outcome of aging with death a few months later instead of treating it as well as they could knowing it's the other things that kill them.

If Americans are falling over more that Japanese or Europeans, the explanation can hardly be the result of there just being more elderly people. Plus, a serious study would take that into account anyway

One potential cause: when I go to the dispensary, everyone in line looks like they’re on Medicare. You get an “over-65” discount on medical marijuana instead of the 20% sales tax added onto “adult use” - ie, “non-medical” - purchases so the olds are adding MMJ to the rest of the meds they’re taking.

And I’m guessing not that many of them are discussing it with their primary care providers.

Along with unsecured area rugs senior’s Social Security/Medicare pulled out from under them leading to falls.

I won't dignify the NYT by signing up for even a free subscription so I don't know whether or not the piece specifies which medications may be causing the falls, so I can't address that, but parts do wear out as well and our upright stance gets harder to maintain. A friend's mom lived to 92 but broke her foot trying to navigate a restaurant table, had to have an implant in the foot because there wasn't enough intact bone, then her body rejected the implant and it had to be removed. Longevity is a complicated balance of choices.

When it comes to dollars for research compared to the top 10 causes of mortality in the US, falls are the least funded.

(Bring back the bustle!)

Why yammer about the NYT (which you can access through a library) when you can read the actual article:.

I’ve started toppling over and I’m in my early 60s. I used to have fantastic balance, but not now. If I turn too fast, I can’t recalibrate my balance fast enough. I’m going to have to move really slowly like stereotypical old people.

Too many elderly people are living alone. They start getting confused and mix up their medications…take too many blood pressure pills, etc.

Most old people are on some sort of blood thinner today, which makes the consequences of a fall worse.

It'd be interesting to see the age breakdown of the figures in OP's article. I'd be quite surprised if a higher proportion of 65-75s were dying of falls nowadays than earlier, because Boomers were still quite young during the big fitness fads of the 1980s and have at least always known about the benefits of the right diet and exercise. Most haven't smoked for decades either.

People over 80 are usually going to have not only bad balance but osteoporosis, leading to the breaking of larger bones during falls. It was recently pointed out to me that only the larger bones make any significant bone marrow, so if you stuff around with them you reduce your production of red and white blood cells (and therefore your immune response) and platelets (clotting). Between that and the immobility required while an unhealthy bone repairs a fracture, it's easy to see why that gets disastrous in a very elderly person.

Some older people die within hours or days of a fall because the trauma triggers a cascade of problem such as a significant increase in blood pressure , increase heart rate, arrhythmia, which can result in heart attack or stroke. Those who survive the first few days are also typically bedridden for a while, which makes them weaker, so they would need some form of rehab to recover.

I've had five falls in the last year or so. One caused a subdural hematoma (which healed perfectly on its own). I don't take any of the drugs listed in the article. I guess that's why I'm still here.

I’m in my mid 50s and falling much more than I used to. And the falls do far more damage than they used to. I used to be able to shrug off falls as if they were nothing. No more. I have trouble with steps and now have to hold on to railings. It’s no joke and it’s not good. If I live for another 10 years falls will likely trigger the end.

Very old people are more likely to fall and have serious complications than a younger healthier person??

Do people not actually read the OP? The study is not about old people falling over. It's about American old people falling over more than old people elsewhere and trying to account for this

[quote]fewer doctors are as competent as before, they right off falling as sort of an expected outcome

Oh, dear.

I'd like to inventory some kind of pull on hip pads for my dad. His cat is a menace

R19 As we age we become accustomed to only moving our legs in a standard walking forward motion. You need to do some form of basic exercise and stretching with your legs so you can manage irregular situations such as moving sideways, uneven floors, steps, even moving backwards. Most of this can be done in your home. I recommend following this physical therapist Will Harlow on You Tube that specialized in physical challenges for people over 50.

I have been falling since I was a kid. My parents even called me “Bunky” as a kid due to my proclivity for it. I have around two “hard falls” a year on average. I’m 58, and doubt I’ll see 70.

“Oh, for God’s sake, just DIE!!”

After an illness or injury it’s typical that an elder’s heath goes into decline. It has nothing to do with MDs or rural vs city, or new medicine vs old. It’s part of life.

R24. Thanks. This is interesting. If he were a trainer for older farts like me I would motivated show up. He seems very pleasant.

It’s also the kind of falls. Rx drug fainting falls can be worse than an accident. Accident, you know it’s happening and can try to go fetal on the way down. A stone cold fainting can easily kill an old person if they go down hard like a bowling pin.

Of the two old people I know who died of falls in the last 30 years: One fell off the balcony of his condo (around 3 stories), the other was walking her dog, got tangled in the leash, fell, and hit her head on a large rock. Both more or less instant deaths.

All true r24. Add something like even minor arthritis and it's all the more important

[quote] It's about American old people falling over more than old people elsewhere

I’m an American old person keeling over. It’s a comfort to know that when traveling abroad, if I start to fall over, any old European I grab on the way down is likely to stay up and not topple with me.

One thing I noticed about myself is that my depth perception got faulty as I get older and it caused me to fall a couple of times. Since then I am very careful. With my mother, her worst times were in the middle of the night. Getting up to go to the bathroom, she'd get dizzy and fall..We got her a walker which she refused to use until I threatened her. I told her that if she broke her hip or her pelvis she'd end up in a nursing home because it wouldn't heal.

These drugs are mentioned in the article, but it's worth rehashing for anyone who didn't read it: It's very common for newly hired PCPs (many straight out of residency) to inherit aging patient panels who take medications, primarily benzos and opioids, that increase their fall risk. Sometimes they're on both, which is especially dangerous. These patients are often resistant to considering other, safer treatment options, and are frequently unhealthy in general, raising the risk of serious complications once they're injured.

I remember when it was skiing accidents!

[quote] One thing I noticed about myself is that my depth perception got faulty as I get older and it caused me to fall a couple of times.

For myself, I've blamed it on readers glasses. Not when I am wearing them, that would be obvious, but shortly after I take them off, as though my eyes take a while to adjust

One of my issues is that I wear blended bifocals, and I’m near sighted. So when walking, the ground below in front of me becomes blurry.

[quote]aging patient panels who take medications, primarily benzos and opioids, that increase their fall risk

There’s no reason for elderly people to be on benzos. They are well known to cause memory loss, confusion, and excessive sleepiness. Too many people are prescribed these for “anxiety” and stay on them for 30 or more years.

(Older) people are far less active than they used to be. They don't walk anywhere, they don't get any exercise. This contributes to weakness, sarcopenia and balance issues.

I'm 73 and experience dizziness and balance issues as one would expect. I'm having to learn that I can't move as quickly as I used to.

I can't imagine taking benzos or opioids every day at this age, even though I was a fan when younger. If I have two drinks and decide I need to do some housework, which is usually what's required to motivate me, I'm in danger of pitching forward into the bathtub.

My mother never took a drug other than baby aspirin or touched alcohol in her life and had a single fall at 86 with no breaks, and she had bad osteoporosis. She died at 88 from COPD.

Benzos are also addictive as hell. Maybe not as hard to kick as opioids but no picnic.

Benzos are not addictive at all. I go off them at least once every couple years for months long stretches and have never had even the slightest of issues.

Don’t think I’ll be able to take a break from them for the next 3.5 years though.

^ Apologies. I was meaning SSRIs. Benzos are indeed very addictive.

I had trouble with them, r42, including withdrawal. Maybe the one advantage of them is I have never craved them once I kicked them, unlike cigarettes and what alcoholics tell me aboute booze.

Doctor told me that when I wake up in the morning I should just sit up for a minute or two, on the edge of the bed, and swing my legs around before getting out of bed. I always worry about that sprint to the bathroom at 3 AM.

Sorry r42 / r43. I posted before I saw your correction.

[quote]I always worry about that sprint to the bathroom at 3 AM.

This is a problem too. Especially old women with arthritis who can’t get up quickly and sit down on a toilet. So they don’t drink water to avoid having to pee. This results in dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, and increased risk of UTI…all of which contribute to fall risk.

I'm nearly 73 and on no medications of any kind. And I never have been.

I want to keep it that way.

So many medicines have a side effect of dizziness and instability.

Eat your veggies, boys. They prevent the chronic diseases

For R19:

[quote] Doctor told me that when I wake up in the morning I should just sit up for a minute or two, on the edge of the bed, and swing my legs around before getting out of bed.

Jumping out of bed is when a lot of heart attacks happen. It’s always best to do it slowly when you get old.

I had a nice house...with a basement and the bedrooms were upstairs. Two stories. We sold it, and moved to a condo. We're on the first floor. We walk to the elevator which takes us one flight down to the parking garage. We no longer have stairs to worry about. It's wonderful.

my father, 83, and step mother 79, are both in terrible shape. They have a McMansion and refuse to do anything to help themselves. They won't move...yet. So I suggested they don't have to move,, but they could help themselves by getting a stairlift. He's a veteran so he'd get a discount. They could use the stairlift or not depending how they feel. But they refuse. He has macular degeneration, but he insists on driving. Refuses to use Lyft or Uber. They don't do much cooking anymore and complain how expensive it is to eat out, but refuse to consider meal services like Hello Fresh or Factor. It's driving us crazy.

My mom (88) and dad (93 in 3 weeks) fell together coming in the back door of their apartment building Friday afternoon. They laid there for a half hour before the ambulance was able to arrive. They took my father to emergency first and then came back for my mother. No broken bones, but dad is pretty banged up because he took the brunt of the fall. He’s still in the hospital. I’ve been staying with my mom who has dementia and can’t stay alone. She had fallen the day before this at the same spot. Falls are terrible and I’m very lucky things aren’t more serious. My father may have to go to rehab.

I was told by a neurologist that he will not allow his 81 year old father to take blood thinners because of the number of brain bleeds he sees in elderly patients who are on the medications. He said in his opinion, the risk of dying from a brain bleed is not worth the benefit these medications bestow. BTW, my 82 year old father died as a result of Warfarin. My spouse also suffered a brain bleed after a fall while on blood thinners for a heart condition. I am wary of the medications.

I recently had a bout of kidney stones and had to go to an Urgent Care.. They gave me painkillers and an IV and I passed them.

The doctor also gave me 5 prescriptions, one of which was a medicine to dilate my vessels and help any remaining kidney stones pass.

He told me to be careful though, that the medicine tends to make one dizzy.

When I got home, I threw all of the prescriptions in the trash.

Americans have unhealthier lifestyles than other developed countries hence more chronic illnesses at old age and polypharmacy. Many drugs have side effects cause dizziness or orthostatic hypotension or syncope. Also in general they are more obese and sedentary throughout life so I gonna guess worse balance and gaits. Also anti-platelets and anticoagulants are commonly used which increase risks of internal bleeding. If I remember correctly, once an elderly person falls, their morbidity/mortality increases and chance of going back to previous living situations are reduced.

I wonder if some of the effect might not be due to the greater mobility of seniors in their 80s and up these days. When my grandmother was in her mid 80s she was bowed over, had rheumatoid arthritis, and took shuffling steps of about six inches with a hand on the wall at all times. The few of her contemporaries who weren't already pushing daisies tended to be in nursing homes or housebound. Now that my mother is that age she still carts donations to food banks and takes dance classes. It's great that she's more active and energetic, but I do worry that the activity puts her at greater risk of a fall.

Then again, given the choice, I'd rather die quickly from a fall than slowly wither away as an invalid in a hospital bed.

Maybe r58. It sort of goes with what I've been told - stay active but be aware of your limitations. It matches any (luckily) small mishaps and close calls I've had by pushing myself too hard when I've been tired or just plain careless.

My mother was pretty fit because she liked to keep her house and later her apartment neat and clean. She always was doing some cleaning project or painting something, or whatever. The only time she fell (and I only found out about it later) was when she was standing on a chair taking down curtains, at 89. I saw the scab on her lower leg from where she hit something on the way down, when she had to go to the hospital for something else. Otherwise, she wasn't hurt in the fall.

[quote]Do people not actually read the OP? The study is not about old people falling over. It's about American old people falling over more than old people elsewhere and trying to account for this

Perhaps you could give us a reading lesson. When you have a moment, could you cite the passages in the article that talk about an attempt to compare the US to other countries. That is proving elusive to some of us lesser readers. Thaks!

The article itself is poor, as is typical for the New York Times. The article claims that falls have become more deadly for people over 65 and even more so for those older than 85. The population above 65 is much, much older than in the past. Presumably the health study being reported on is more precise, but it would have been useful for the New York Times to word its summary more carefully.

I blame the proliferation of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

Might illegal immigrants be pushing them over?

It’s the windmills. Those Chinese-built windmills. They’re killing our people.

Caused by the Covid vaccines.

This is one huge reason I did my research both from the actual prescription meds inserts and from trusted sources (NIH, CDC, FDA, and relevant peer-reviewed studies), and worked with all my old Dad's doctors and even his home health nurses, PTs and OTs to wean him off all medications that weren't absolutely necessary to his survival.

I was able to get him off Seroquel (and worked to find other ways to manage Dad's mood, behavior, and sleep), Mirtazipine (which gave him horrific dreams he truly believed were real), Furosemide (use of which is tricky for those with chronic dehydration), Atenolol (which randomly made his heart rate drop like a stone; we replaced it with Amlodipine, which for him works a treat), Keppra, Donepezil, Rivastigmine, and a few others I can't recall atm. His nightly Oxybutinin and low-dose aspirin we reduced to every other night. Later on we added Periactin to stimulate his appetite, and Coleselevam to slow his gastric emptying so his body can extract the nutrients and calories from his food before it dumps out. Plus megadoses of Vitamin C to stave off UTIs.

Dad has gone from being a somnolent, brain-fogged, cachexic, extreme fall risk with no appetite, to a (mostly) clear minded old man with moderate-to-severe dementia and balance issues stemming from his two cerebellar strokes and near-blindness.

His hydration protocol, which my middle sister devised, is insanely effective and he's gone from on average monthly ER visits for IV infusions, to once every 3-5 months. Falls from chronic or severe acute dehydration are as common--more, perhaps--as medication-caused falls.

It is really, really hard work to do all this, but it was worth it to have my non-zombified Dad back and engaged with the world.

Regular medication reviews should be a standard part of doctor-patient-family interaction. I've had medication review appointments my Dad didn't even attend; they were between his doctors and me.

How old is your father, R67?

R68/Plum, Dad will be 98 in January!

He's lucky to have you and your sister r69.

A friend in his 50's was taking statins and got excruciating muscle pain and cramping because he was a runner. And apparently the science tells us something happens to you muscles when you run, and it conflicts with what the statins are doing to your cholesterol and that's why he was damned near crippled from these cramps. His doctor took him off statins and the problem corrected itself. Ithink he was lucky to have a doctor who understood science and how one thing affects another. It's shocking t hat some doctors don't.

R67 here.

Perhaps I should have mentioned what a strong partner we have in my Dad when it relates to health/falls. He is a double combat veteran (Navy in WW2 and Army in Korea), who in addition was an Army PT instructor. He's always had an almost uncanny mind-body-spirit connection, and is one of those rare men who'd go to the doctor when he felt something more than usual was going on with/in him. About 6-7 years ago after a fall between his bedroom and bathroom we called 911, and paramedics transported him to ER, where they kept him overnight; surprisingly he had no injuries, no broken bones, just a small cut on the top of his head where he'd struck his chesser.

Several weeks later when I was getting him dressed for breakfast, he randomly asked if I remembered his recent fall/ER visit (of course I had; it was all I could think about, I was so worried). He said, "You know, I've been thinking back in my mind, trying to remember what happened and why I fell. It was MY fault, because I didn't do what I had told myself to do: if I feel like I might fall, or even if I don't feel it until I'm actually falling, to visualize HOW I'm going to fall, and don't fight it, just let myself *slide* into my fall. I didn't do it that night--I fought it, and that's why I fell hard and hit my head."

I was blown away; here was a 90-something blind man who had terrible balance issues from TWO cerebellar strokes (cerebellum is responsible for balance) and resultant dementia, yet he was trying to re-train his proprioception, and thinking through what happens in a fall, then visualize how he could reorient himself in space.

He's fallen only twice since then, and when he called out and my sister and I raced to his aid, we could see how he had twisted himself into an odd kind of crouch (imagine the curve of a shrimp; that's how it looked), his hands cradling his head by his ears. Both times he said, "I felt myself falling and tried to sense where I was so I wouldn't hit anything on the way down."

My big brother is only 69, and has had 4-5 falls since 2023; he has NO mind-body connection, and each fall has landed him in the hospital-to-rehab circuit, and each time it's worse. It's so weird how he inherited NONE of Dad's sixth sense.

Thank you so much, R70. My two sisters and I are a total team; I'm the 24/7 carer and point person, my eldest sister is an RN/Ph.D who brings those skills, and my middle sister, who's out of state, is the fitness and nutrition guru.

We get compliments all the time about this, and we always say there is NO way, 0%, that we could do it without all the other eyes and ears. He and my late Mom were blessed to have absolutely stellar medical and specialty care from the time they married in 1953, until she died in 2018, and still with my Dad. And they were working class, comfortable but not wealthy by any means, both veerrrry intelligent and engaged.

But your medical team needs to understand you're as important to yourself as they are to you, that you're an active partner in the relationship; and if your team "plays down to the competition," you need to tell them about themselves, then be ready to bounce if there's no positive change in their attitude.

I am 81 and do not take any prescription drugs. What I do take is Calcium to keep the bones from getting brittle and breaking. I also take Vitamin D3 as it helps the Calcium migrate in the body. One other thing, Vitamin B12 is vital to keep things running in the body so you have a better chance of not falling, due to lack of muscle response. I have had a few falls in my old age and never broken a bone. One fall was a fainting type, but haven't had any since increasing B12. I take B Complex. I also try to fall like a football player to protect joints. And, while walking my dog in the morning, raise my legs higher and almost marching. I've have both knees replaced and this type of leg exercise makes it easier to bend the knees.

My few falls have been due to rheumatoid arthritis, usually from an overreaction to pain and an inability to correct in a timely manner. The worst was a bathroom fall on exiting the shower. I fell relatively softly but gashed my scalp on the lip of the quartz vanity on my way back up. Lots of blood. Twelve stitches and a mild concussion.

The concussion scares me the most. I had two others decades ago playing hockey.

I'm in my 60s, and have broken both arms in drunken falls. :(

Wow, R71, I'm glad your friend got that sorted out in time.

And you're so right about the hole in too many doctors' education, training, and humility. A dear friend I met in grad school (he was an undergrad in Pharmacology) was an intern at a hospital pharmacy, and used to tell me how shocked and horrified he was to discover how little modern doctors knew about chemistry (organic and inorganic), biochemistry, and pharmacology. Oh, the horror stories he would tell about how a certain patient almost died because the doctor/resident prescribed the wrong medication, did not titrate it properly, did not take into consideration their patient's own biochemistry, other meds the pt was taking, on and on. That hospital and retail pharmacists saved more lives that anyone will ever know, by catching and pointing out errors, both grave and minor. And HAAAATED it when those errors were pointed out to them. He said back in the day med students were taught much more in-depth about pharmacology, but with the rise in specialization much of that went by the wayside.

Later, after practicing 4-5 years as a pharmacist, my friend went to medical school and did phenomenally well.

It's funny, my old vet says the same about new veterinarians. He began practicing in the 1960s, and still often compounds his own medications, and if there's no drug on the market, he creates his own drug treatments based on the animal's specific needs/condition, a practice very few modern veterinarians know how to do. It's similar to how engineers used to have to know how to draft as well as compute and engineer, but in the '70s and '80s that was abandoned, so many incoming engineers had no idea how to read a process flow chart, and couldn't tell a flange symbol from a reducer valve.

But doctors and veterinarians (and engineers) used to have to be generalists, even if they had a specialty practice. But no more. So when you find a doctor or vet who has those skills, do all you can to get yourself, your loved ones, or your pets into their practice!

I fell this evening.

I've been trying to walk two miles every day ever since a skinny female VA doctor told me I need to lose weight two weeks ago. Today I took a different route on a fairly well-traveled two-lane road, and when a car comes, I have to move over into the grass so I don't get hit.

I was walking in the tall grass when I tripped over a hidden vine. I hit my left cheekbone, my right knee and, in breaking the fall with both my hands, I wrenched my shoulders pretty bad. And I didn't fall in the grass; I hit gravel and dirt.

But like the tough, beat-up old biker that I am, I picked myself up, brushed myself off, and kept walking the 3/4 of a mile back to my place. And I popped some ibuprofen as soon as I got home (with milk) and some more just now (with a greasy snack -- bad girl!), so hopefully I won't be in too much pain while I sleep.

I have occasional vertigo so I'm going to keep falling, probably more frequently as time goes on. I fell in my yard probably six months ago when I got dizzy -- but I fell into grass, and no real harm done. I just hope working on getting stronger and losing weight (two lbs. so far) can improve my chances.

Still, you know what Joni Ernst says: we're all gonna die.

^ How old are you?

Oh, no, SL!!! How awful, but I'm so glad you're mostly ok. It's really scary to even think about falling when you've walked a far bit from home, let alone having it actually happen.

Do you have BPPV, by any chance? When my vertigo got really bad, my old ENT would manipulate my head/neck/shoulders to reset the crystals in my eardrums. Worked very well until things got out of whack again. Eventually he showed me how to do it myself, though for me it worked better when he did it. The one he showed me was the Epley maneuver.

Quite by chance I discovered magnesium really helps my vertigo, so I have been able to reduce the amount of Meclizine I take. CVS Triple Magnesium Complex is fantastic.

Another thing I'm sure you've heard of, but I'm just throwing it out here: acupressure. My vertigo often comes with sudden nausea, so years ago I bought my first Sea-Band. I position it on my wrist, and it works quite well. I bought mine from Amazon, but Walmart sells them, too. There are 2-3 other acupressure points that you can activate (check out Dr. Jon Saunders' YouTube channel).

Hope you feel better soon; I'm pulling for you!

Not my experience of 91 year old parent. Fall and broken hip and back mobile in 2-3 months. The statistic is less than 25% death rate within a year of Fallon for over 90s. I was surprised - as the myth is it’s a death sentence. Obviously greater than zero - but it is no the guaranteed death sentence that I always heard. Probably a lot has to do with old people living alone in non-urban areas with slow response and poor ERs. But it is far from a death sentence.

Thanks so much, R80.

I don't know if my vertigo has a name. I got it from motorcycle accident #1, when I went down on that side and fractured my skull right behind my ear.

But I'll look for one of those bracelets you mentioned. I had the Eppely maneuver done so many times it doesn't work any more. My new VA doc ordered an MRI last week to see if anything else was wrong in my head, but they found nothing except a pineal cyst which I already knew I had.

It's funny how things that don't bother you so much when you're younger turn up and rear their ugly heads as you get older. If you saw my x-rays from my two different motorcycle accidents (in 43 years of riding), you'd say I'm very lucky to be alive, but life sure would be better without this persistent, low-grade pain and the added joy of vertigo.

But hey -- there's always DL to enrich my life and make me laugh!

This is generally where I sound like a fat whore by mentioning that it’s good to have a little extra cushion around your bones as you age for the inevitable falls.

Why would that make you sound like a whore, r83?

Besides, why would being fat spare you being at greater risk from dying after a fall due to medication? Especially as, as your link says, having a high BMI increases your risk of dying from other causes.

Sorry to hear about your fall, r78, but don't you have pavements, aka sidewalks, where you live?

Fat whore, not whore

Did you read the link R84? All cause mortality risk is increased for obese and underweight people. For older people, being a little overweight is neutral to slightly protective. (Overweight and obese are separate categories)

Fat cushions your hips.

And my best guess for the increase in dying after falls in the US compared to other countries is the stupid fat free craze that gripped the country, given that D, K and E are all fat soluble vitamins.

[quote]Why Are More Older People Dying After Falls?

I wouldn't know OP...

Wouldn't that be nice, R85! But no, there are no sidewalks where I live.

Hell, I'm lucky to live on a paved road -- on the other side of the "main" paved two lane road from which my street branches off, the roads are nothing but lime rock and sand. Hell, some of the sand roads here are so bad, I've been stuck in my truck on two of them, and once, I paid to get towed out.

But if you'd like to buy me a nice place somewhere civilized, I'd be more than happy to move there! In the meantime, I'm kinda stuck here waiting for my little dog to kick the bucket, after which I shall move to Panama, where there are plenty of roads just like these and worse.

This thread showed up just in time. I started walking three miles in the morning last week. I felt like I wasn't walking right. I wasn't quite stumbling, but I was losing my balance and okay, slightly stumbling. I basically forgot how to swing my arms and shift from side to side a bit, like in the video. It really helped this morning.

DL would be a place for bandage companies and rehabilitation services to advertise on.

Yes, r86, I read your link. Nowhere does it say anything about how having a bit of extra weight can protect older people, particularly in relation to falls, which is the subject of this thread. At this link are some critiques of that paper.

R83/EL, my late mother's geriatrician told us the same thing not long after he'd diagnosed her with vascular dementia. She had a weight problem since my 2nd sibling was born, and lately had gained a ton more on Sertraline. Once we weaned her off it and she dropped the meds weight, he told us to feed her as healthfully as possible, but not to obsess about her weight, that the extra padding had likely saved her from more serious injury when she'd fallen and broken her nose. She had CHF, but aside from that had no other comorbidities.

That day my Mom was with it, and quipped "NOW they tell me it's ok to be fat!"

They become more vulnerable. Hip replacement hospital stay leads to pneumonia. Being sedentary to heal leads to all kinds of problems. I’ve seen this over and over.

I think there's too much pressure on older people to be cool, super agers, and they often end up overdoing things. then they fall. And are reminded very harshly that there are limits to their agility.

[quote]Fewer doctors/competent ER departments, especially in small towns or rural areas, resulting in treatment delays from the initial fall?

I think short-staffed ER departments and insurance coverage/denial are a big part of it, R5.

My 60 something cousin fell and hit her head, went to the ER and was sent home after a few hours, she died the next day. She wasn't a senior, but had early onset dementia and lived with her daughter. Being unable to work, she was on Medicare with a Kaiser Medicare Advantage Plan. Kaiser is the reason they sent her home.

We found out today, after being misdiagnosed more than once, that my dad has a partial break of his hip socket. He’s confined to bed for 6 weeks and won’t be having surgery. He’ll be transferred from the hospital to some type of rehab facility. We’ll have to look after my mom who can’t care for herself. My brother has come home to help me.

In other words, r93, the doctor told you not to obsess about your mother's weight once she'd stopped being obese and was merely overweight. Was this fall before or after she'd dropped the weight?

The main causes of vascular dementia are a bad diet and unhealthy lifestyle, by the way.

R89, are there exercise classes near where you live? Perhaps, if they are affordable or easy to access and they have some that are suitable for you, you could go. It would make the world of difference.

Otherwise, something like Will Harlow's YouTube videos linked at r24 could make the world of difference. Exercise is great and massively improves your health and general physical and mental wellbeing. It can sometimes be boring and difficult to make a habit out of if it's not part of your routine (which is why classes or just going to a gym are a good idea) but if you make the effort the changes to your health and your body are amazing.

This isn't just about weight, but strength, mobility, ability to do "functional" actions such as carry heavy bags, raise your arms to open tall cupboards, bend and lift things from the floor, improve balance and posture. You will also feel great too.

[Quote] My Dad, who is 81, has started falling. We think it's hip-related,

No, I have hips, and I don’t fall often. It has more to do with his inability to stay vertical.

[quote]This isn't just about weight, but strength, mobility, ability to do "functional" actions such as carry heavy bags, raise your arms to open tall cupboards, bend and lift things from the floor, improve balance and posture. You will also feel great too.

If only it were that simple!

My last injury was a break at the top of my L humerus (the random pit bull attack) that two (count 'em -- two!) orthopods said would heal perfectly (so no surgery needed) that left me unable to lift my arm above my shoulder. Too late to do surgery now, so they say. Or at least, no one wants to pay for it. You should see me trying to hang out my laundry! But I do it because it has to get done.

Then there's the vertigo I get (from MC accident #1) every time I bend over or look up, although moreso when I do them both in rapid succession. I can't even nod my head "yes" without getting dizzy.

But the walking seems to be helping. I feel and sleep better since I started. And I walked a better route last evening where I'll be seen if I fall (for the most part). Wish I could ride a bicycle again -- one more thing I can no longer do.

It has been really hard for me to accept that there are things I can't do anymore, especially since I'm relatively young compared to my father, who only quit playing pickleball when he was (probably) 85. I haven't been able to run at all since I broke my back in 2016 -- not even a couple of steps. But I'm grateful I wasn't paralyzed and I can still walk. It's good to focus on the things you [bold]can[/bold] do.

This is the price you pay for riding a motorcycle (and having two accidents) for 43 years. But honestly, I love to ride -- and I can still ride! -- and I'd do it all over again even if I knew how it was going to turn out.

They need to install safety rails in the bathroom before they really even need them and get into the habit of using them. Also wall to wall carpet in the bedroom is safer than a hard surface.

People used ot use walkers. Now they are too vain! It cuts down on your sex life! No need for that!

Medicare Advantage is Satan.

Everyone has balance issues as they age. You’ll find out.

I will say that there's a huge difference in getting healthcare from a university healthcare/hospital system and just getting independent doctors and hospitals. I have healthcare through a major university in my state, and it's a teaching hospital. I've been with them for 8 years and haven't had any complaints. I have several medical conditions they're monitoring, lungs, GI tract, etc. and they have been very thorough and very professional. I trust them.

I do think there is a bias against elderly patients in some places. I recall when my father had his third stroke, one that paralyzed his right side, my brother had to carry him into the ER, and he was 81 at the time. My father, a former athlete walked every day and belonged to two different bowling leagues. But the young resident who reviewed his case and examined him said "He's doing great for someone his age." And my brother had to set him straight. Only then did they prescribe physical therapy. His athletic training kicked in and he worked hard every day and was walking three months later with a cane. If we had left it to the doctors at that hospital without pressing them, he'd have been in a wheel chair. He died 8 years later. But he was never an invalid.

[quote]I won't dignify the NYT by signing up for even a free subscription so I don't know whether or not the piece specifies which medications may be causing the falls, so I can't address that,

Geez - what an introduction. No need for anyone to read past that.

R101, if simple walking for 40 or so minutes a day is helping you then imagine what a little exercise could do. Just because you have some mobility issues, doesn't mean you shouldn't move at all. I don't know if you ever saw a physiotherapist but that could really help you. They could help you extend the range of motion of your arms and give you some exercises to do at home from which you will benefit. Get some strength training in too, to help combat the risk of osteoporosis.