How Can Seniors Prevent Falls – Tips From A Physical Therapist

As we all grow older – one of the issues that most of us fear is that of falling down and injuring ourselves, or worse, not being able to get back up.  Studies have shown that every 15 seconds an older adult comes into an emergency room because of an injury related to falling.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – “Falls result in more than 2.8 million injuries treated in emergency departments annually, including over 800,000 hospitalizations and more than 27,000 deaths.”

As a physical therapist, I do see many patients who come to me for rehabilitation after they have suffered a fall.  It could be as minor as a pulled muscle or as serious as a head injury.  One thing that I have seen is that the majority of those falls could have been prevented.

It only takes 1 second for a fall to occur – and your life can change forever in that one second.

Why Do Elderly Fall So Much?

There are multiple reasons why many older adults fall but the most common ones include:

  • Poor strength and/or balance in the body and/or lower extremities
  • Poor vision
  • Poor hearing
  • Poor visual perceptual abilities
  • Reaction to medications
  • Poor lighting
  • Poor environment (i.e. clutter, throw rugs, loose electrical cords, etc.)

As you can see, there’s much more to fall prevention than just improving the strength in your legs and improving your balance.

How Can We Prevent Falls As We Age?

Change is required (and that’s difficult for many seniors) but it’s necessary if you want to prevent falling and possibly causing injury.

As a physical therapist, the changes that I would recommend are…

  • Removing throw rugs and other rugs throughout the home.  But if a rug is necessary (many people need a rug in the bathroom) then it’s important to secure them with a non-slip pad.
  • Lighting, lighting everywhere.  Improving lighting is one of the easiest and most important things that can be done to any home environment to help prevent falls.  Especially on stairways, hallways and entrances.
  • Living spaces should be decluttered and free of anything that may cause a fall such as electrical cords, furniture that’s too close together, excess objects, etc.
  • Wearing proper shoes and avoiding walking barefoot and/or in socks.  But if you must wear socks we would recommend to use anti slip socks.
  • Making the floors as non-slip as possible.  There are multiple products available today that can make your existing flooring anti slip.
  • Avoiding trying to do more than one thing at a time such as carrying groceries while talking on the phone and trying to close the car door.
  • Focus on whatever your doing at the moment.  For example, when you walk down the stairs keep your eyes on each step, don’t look away until you have stepped onto the main floor.  Don’t get distracted by the phone or talking to someone or watching the television.
  • Know (and admit to) what you can and cannot do.
  • Pay attention to the side effects of the medication you are on in case any of them may make you lightheaded or a bit dizzy.

Where Do Most Falls Occur In The Elderly?

The majority of seniors spend their time indoors and as a result – most falls tend to occur indoors.  The one room in the home that is most “dangerous” for seniors as far as falling is the bathroom.

The reason for this is because being in the bathroom generally requires having to perform more mobility tasks than most any other room.  In the bathroom, the person is expected to…

  • Get up and down from the toilet
  • Get into and out of the shower
  • Get into and out of the bathtub
  • Get up and down to use the sink
  • Bend down to dry themselves, put lotion on, etc.
  • Get undressed and then dressed again

The kitchen would be the second most “dangerous” room in the house (for most seniors) but adults tend to use the bathroom more than the kitchen (and as seniors get older they tend to cook less) so overall – the one room in the house that most elderly fall is the bathroom.

Exercises To Help Improve Your Strength And Balance

As a physical therapist – my training and focus on fall prevention for seniors is to help them to improve their strength and balance.

The issue of home modifications is addressed by occupational therapists so I would recommend that you consult with a specialist in that field on how to best make your home as safe as possible.

But back to the exercises that I can recommend to help you to improve your overall strength and balance which will help you to keep from falling.

Be sure to check with your doctor before starting these, or any other exercise, for your balance.

1. Standing With One Leg

  • Find something heavy and stable to hold onto – in other words don’t use a flimsy chair.  You will be holding on to this item and possibly leaning on it as well so you do not want it to topple over.  Something like a heavy chair or table that will not tip over.
  • While you are holding onto this stable object – go ahead and lift one foot off the floor – just a few inches off the floor.
  • Then stay in this position for 30 seconds.
  • Then put your foot down and repeat it again with the other foot.
  • You can make this more difficult by increasing the time to 60 seconds.
  • You can also make it harder by performing this exercise with your eyes closed.
  • Another way you can make it more difficult is by doing this exercise and NOT hold on to an object at all.  BUT I strongly caution you that you should NOT do this without the supervision of another person there to guard you and catch you if you begin to fall.

2.  Walking While Moving Your Head

  • For some seniors, it can be challenging to walk and move your head at the same time due to a variety of physical and/or medical conditions but whatever the reason – working on this skill can help to improve your overall balance skills.
  • Begin by laying down on a bed or mat.  Then go ahead and turn your head to the left and then to the right.  If doing this this does not cause you any dizziness or a lightheaded feeling, then continue to the next step.
  • Go ahead and sit up in a chair that has back and side supports.
  • Turn your head to the left and then to the right.  Again, if this does not cause you any dizziness or a lightheaded feeling, then continue.
  • Stand upright and hold onto a sturdy object.
  • Repeat the exercise by turning your head to the left and then to the right.  If this does not cause you any dizziness or a lightheaded feeling, then continue.
  • In this last step you will be walking and turning your head to the left and then to the right while you are walking.
  • I strongly recommend that this exercise be performed either in a physical therapy clinic where you can use their parallel bars and with supervision.  At the very least – I recommend that you have two people to supervise you, one on the left and one on the right to help you if you do begin to fall.  DO NOT PERFORM THIS EXERCISE WHILE YOU ARE ALONE.

3. Walking A Straight Line

  • Here, you will be performing what looks like the test policemen perform to determine if the person is intoxicated or not.  You will walk in a straight line, heel to toe.
  • You begin the exercise by standing upright, holding on to a sturdy object (like the parallel bars).
  • Take 10 steps forward by putting one foot directly in front of the other, placing the heel of the front foot directly in front of the toes of the other foot.
  • Repeat this same exercise but this time do it walking walking backwards.
  • When you are ready you can eventually perform this exercise but do so without holding on to something to steady yourself.  Again, be cautious and have someone with you at all times.

Again, I just want to repeat that it’s best to perform these exercises initially with a physical therapist so that they can assess you and help you to correct any issues that you are having with any of these tasks.

They may seem like very simple exercises and perhaps they will be for you, but if they are then the physical therapist can give you more appropriate exercises for your capabilities.

If you have any questions concerning strength and balance to help prevent falls for yourself or your senior loved ones, please call us at ABove Physical therapy here in Suwanee, Ga. at 770-904-2332.  We would love to help you.