Fall

The Season of Fall

This week we welcomed in the first day of Fall, or Autumn.

We hope that everyone is staying safe and not creating a greater risk of a fall.  Is that a common expression, Fall into Fall, or just one I thought of in the moment?  Fall is on the horizon and most of probably look forward to cooler temperatures, thus ‘fall into fall’.  But, we don’t want to fall in fall.  This is also Fall Prevention Week. https://www.catchu.net/fallprevention Ah yes, the English language is always varied and sometimes confusing.  I also think the time change for many of us was labeled at ‘fall back’, or turn your clocks back an hour in the fall and ‘spring into spring’ by setting your clocks forward an hour.

What are some common things that may increase a person’s risk of a fall

For many people, especially as we age, falling is definitely not a good thing.  So the last thing we want is for you, or your loved ones to ‘fall into fall.’  Anyone can fall and age, in and of itself, it not necessarily the only cause to increase your risk.

Some of the factors I found were

• weak muscles
• poor balance
• dizziness or lightheadedness
• black outs
• memory loss, difficulties with thinking
• vision and hearing problems
• medications
• alcohol or drug consumption

Suggestions for improvement 

Instead, we want you to stay safe and learn new ways to keep yourself safe.  So here’s some suggestion I found.

Changing Sleep Patterns if Possible

As we age, sleep disorders become more common.  Being sleep deprived when you’re 25 is a lot different than at 65. When you get little sleep at night you may be more apt to be sleepy when out running errands.  Working on getting better sleep is obviously the best solution but I understand how that is.

Correcting Hearing Loss

When we have all of our senses in working order (maybe excluding common sense :), we are likely unaware of how our senses play a role in different functions.  Hearing loss can affect how we perceive our movements throughout our days. And it seems that those with hearing loss can increase their risk of falling. They may not hear a car coming or another noise until it is right on top of them.  Then they can possible become startled increasing their risk of a fall.  Make sure to see an audiologist if you or your loved ones seem to be having difficulty hearing the conversation.  

Medications Increase Fall into Fall

Many medications, such as blood thinners for example, can cause lightheadedness.

 Even some acid reflux meds can cause vertigo.  Other medications can cause weakness in a patients legs.  These two situations for example can increase a person’s struggle to remain stable with a lower risk of falls. 

Vision Loss Can Also Increase Falls

There was a documentary several years ago about how bifocals, trifocals, and even progressive lenses can exacerbate falls.  The reason is that when one wears these types of glasses when walking they must walk looking down,  The lens is magnified in the lower part for reading.  As it says on the passenger side mirror of your car, things may appear closer than they are.  They may miss a step because their focus was incorrect.  When walking for instance down a flight of stairs, what happens overtime is

that the patients neck becomes weaker from the constant forward leaning of the head.  It’s like a bowling ball on a pencil as some PT personnel refer to it. Because of that the equilibrium is changed as the center of our balance is in our brain.  This again puts some people as a greater risk of falling. It may be better is an older person keeps another pair of glasses for traversing unknown territory, a single focal lens.

Happy Fall (the season)

As you can see there are many situations that increase the risk of fall into fall.  We’ve just mentioned several but we want you to keep in mind that your friends and family might be at greater risk than you think. We just want everyone to stay safe this fall!  If you do suffer a fall, we may be able to help with in-home care.  Please consider us. https://transitioncaretelemetry.com

It’s time for Octoberand all the festivities that fall brings!!