Late last year there were some interesting articles and podcasts about the importance of reducing falls as we got older.
Every day, 14 people in Australia aged over 65 will die from a fall, and 364 will have a fall that puts them in hospital.
There is much we can do to stop that happening.
The following is an extract from an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 24 November 2022. It discusses the importance of fall prevention and what you can do about it.
Be a flamingo, stay in the pink
The Sydney Morning Herald - Thursday, 24 Nov 2022 - Page 14
Working on your balance can be a lifesaver, writes Jenna Price.
Want to stop ageing in its tracks? Don’t be like me.
Instead, from about the age of 30 or even earlier, you should spend at least some time standing on one leg. Unwobblingly. Minutes at a time. Be a flamingo .
Me? I started falling over 15 years ago. At first I blamed it on always being in a rush (that has not changed). Then I got anxious about it. But the time I ended up at the physio, I was a mess of blue, purple and yellow bruises. Was the end nigh?
It wasn’t too late to fix the problem, said my physio, Justine Trethewey. The very first task she gave me involved underpants. Putting them on while standing. One leg at a time. No holding on to anything. No sitting on the bed. No wobbling. Took a while to get the hang of it.
A new report released today from Cathie Sherrington and colleagues at the University of Sydney and NEURA led by Kim Delbaere says Australia must take a national approach to falls prevention. It will save lives and money.
There’s the individual approach. We should all be engaging in exercises that target our balance. Stand on one foot. Buy a soft balance mat or a balance ball. Once you’ve stepped on, close your eyes and lift one foot and then the other. Do strength training. Try tai chi. These all prevent falls. Start doing it now, no matter how old you are, says Sherrington.
Then there’s the government approach: Sherrington says we should establish a plan which would include all levels of government and other sectors. Fix residential care and aged care. Include physios on Medicare because it would lower the overall cost of falls to the community.
There’s no question that older people have falls more frequently but there is so much we can do to stop that happening to us.
That’s exactly what Sara Stace, 48, decided to do. A few years back her grandmother fell and broke her hip. Stace was already fit but decided to add a balance element in to help her avoid falling.
‘‘ I had three examples of elderly family members falling and it had a big impact on their lives,’’ she said.
She went to a physio for help who advised specific exercises including what I’d call a modified flamingo .
Stand on one leg. Hold out your wing (or arm) with a weight attached and bend over keeping leg, arm and body in a straight line. It’s pretty tough at the outset but Stace now does eight of those in a row, in three separate sets.
She also bought a balance board – ostensibly for her kids to practise surfing – but Stace now uses it as well.
David Barnes, 53, does calf raises while going to the loo and stands on one leg while brushing his teeth. When he started, he was already in a bit of pain and struggling to run. An orthopaedic surgeon told him he would need a hip replacement unless he took action.
‘‘ I found the right people to help me including exercise physiologists and I rehabbed the crap out of it,’’ he said.
Barnes was determined to get back to playing soccer with his mates. He’s now doing one better – playing on a team with 18-year-olds and refusing to take a fall.
Sherrington, who is working with the Australia and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society and NEURA, says there is an extraordinary gap between what we know works to prevent falls and then putting it into practice. She says physios and exercise physiologists are brilliant at understanding how to help us but for many, access to those allied health services is out of reach.
Her advice? ‘‘ Start soon, no matter how old you are.’’
On the same day this article was published, Richard Glover on ABC Radio discussed fall prevention, and techniques people can use to help reduce the risk of injury from a fall.
Clicking on the following link will take you to the broadcast - Falls prevention broadcast
This is a really good entertaining discussion with excellent suggestions on fall prevention.
Regularly using the exercise track at Yallarwah Park can help with falls prevention. The northern exercise station contains some excellent stretching and balance exercises that we should all be doing - old and young.
