Wellness Wednesday is sponsored by Intermountain Health
There are a lot of things we can fear. Spiders and snakes. Heights and enclosed spaces. Asteroids and earthquakes. But how about your bathroom rug or your labradoodle?
Those are two things people tend to trip over, and simple falls cause more injuries than all of those other fears combined.
September 22 is the first day of fall and also happens to fall on ‘Falls Awareness Day.’
“It's kind of perfect. Because as we head into the fall season, you can be thinking about a different kind of fall,” said Jonathan Wright, a physical therapist who manages rehab programs for Intermountain Health.
“As the wet weather and the temperature drops, and as we're preparing for that, it also makes things more slippery,” said Wright.
It’s easy to overlook something so common. Like the common mosquito being the deadliest animal in the world, falls happen to everyone and are the most common cause of injuries in an emergency department, with impacts well beyond the obvious.
“Obviously it would affect bones. You can have a fracture, but it also can affect our muscles. We get weaker because you have less mobility often after a fall, which in fact, affects your breathing, your heart, your even your immune system is affected by the decreased mobility that happens after a fall,” said Wright.
That’s especially true as we age. Injury becomes more likely and recovery more difficult, adding insult to injury, we are also more prone to falling as we get older.
“Our senses diminish, obviously, our eyesight, our hearing and those are actually balance centers for us,” said Wright.
The solution to the downside of aging, the upside is knowledge and wisdom.
The easiest thing, especially for older adults, is to really think about environment,” said Wright.
The culprits in our environments...those fluffy rugs in the bathroom and kitchen, are easy to trip over. Our pets that love us so much, they stay close and get in our path. And walking in slippery socks rather than slippers or shoes.
“It only takes one fall. It only takes one fall for a head injury, it only takes one fall for a hip fracture. And honestly, more than half, 60% of people that have a hip fracture don't walk independently again,” said Wright.
There's also a vicious circle you want to avoid. Wright said a lack of confidence in your ability to walk makes a fall even more likely than a problem with your balance.
