What are the places in the house where more falls occur?
Definitely the most common and most dangerous place for falls is the bathroom, so it is always recommended to have support bars, anti-slip carpets in the shower, bath chair among other things; the second place in frequency is the room of the older adult, it is important to keep the room without carpets, with adequate lighting and above all to keep a light at night to prevent falls in the early morning. If the older adult takes any medication to sleep, it is advisable that if you must get up during the night it is accompanied.
What are the areas of the body that suffer the most with the fall?
It is a difficult question, since it depends on the type of fall, but the areas that are usually hurt the most are the face, arms and hip.
The injuries can vary from bruises to fractures. The most feared lesions would be intracranial hematomas (Subdural Hematomas) and fractures, of these last ones that concern us most are hip fractures since they are the ones that generally produce greater disability in the elderly. The recovery of a hip fracture can take many months, and that time of immobilization can cause a lot of muscular atrophy, so that the condition of functional independence and the quality of the adult will be diminished.
Recommendations
As first measures we have the basic recommendations, a good diet and exercise regularly, if I stay healthy, and in good physical condition, the risk of falls will be much lower. With aging, our reaction time decreases, so before a fall we are more likely to fall on less resistant areas of the body and thus suffer more injuries; leading an active life and maintaining a good weight I can have a better muscular condition and greater bone strength. But for those older adults who are already in a condition of fragility (greater functional dependence, less muscle mass) we can prevent falls with simple changes in the home, adequate lighting, changes in the bathroom for greater adult safety, bars, bath chairs, non-slip carpets, avoid sedative medications, the use of devices that improve the balance of the elderly
Leave a reply