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Every 11 seconds an older adult arrives at an emergency department seeking treatment for injuries related to a fall. According to the CDC, 25% of Americans over age 65 fall each year. Falls are a serious health concern for older adults, and they are the leading cause of injuries in seniors. Here’s everything you need to know about falls, tips for preventing falls, and how treating hearing loss can help.
How Do Falls Happen?
There are several risk factors that can increase your risk of falling. These include:
- Muscle weakness, particularly in the legs.
- Difficulty balancing or walking.
- Taking medication that can make you drowsy or affect your balance.
- Hazards around the house like a broken step or a rug that keeps catching your foot.
- Vision problems that affect your depth perception.
- Hearing loss makes it hard to localize sounds or notice people or objects in your surroundings.
Approximately 1 out of every 5 older adults who fall will sustain a serious injury. This could include a head injury, or a broken bone or fracture. Falls are a very common cause of hip fractures and brain injuries.
If you fall once, you’ll have a higher risk of falling again. And you may also have an increased fear of falling that makes you hesitant to participate in all your day-to-day activities.
Falls are also very costly. Each year roughly $50 billion is paid by individuals and health insurance providers for care related to falls.
Preventing Falls
There are a few things you can do to improve your safety and prevent an accident or fall.
Increase Home Safety
If you keep tripping on a rug or catching your foot on a box in the hallway, rearrange the furniture. Make your home as safe as possible by removing any obstacles that get in your way when you’re moving around your home. You can also install bars in the bathroom to help you safely get into and out of the shower or tub.
If you feel unstable when walking, use a cane or walker to help stabilize you. Make sure you have room to take your walker into the kitchen and the bathroom so you can have some extra support.
Do Daily Exercises
Spending even 10 minutes a day doing some light exercises can increase your balance. Whether you go for a walk around the block, do chair exercises, or do a stretching routine, these movements can help strengthen your legs and improve your overall balance and stability.
Ask About Your Medications
Do you feel drowsy when you take certain medications? If you’re concerned that any of your medications could be causing balance issues, ask your doctor about your medications. Let them know you have some concerns about balance. You may be able to try a different medication or dosage to prevent a fall.
Get Your Vision Checked
If you’re worried about falling, get your vision checked and make sure your prescription glasses are up to date. If you can’t see obstacles clearly, you are more likely to fall or sustain an injury.
Treat Your Hearing Loss
Hearing loss can also contribute to falls in older adults. In fact, even a mild hearing loss can make you 140% more likely to fall. This is because:
- You have a hard time localizing sounds, and you’re not always aware of the people, kids on bikes, or pets around you.
- You have less spatial awareness of where people and objects are in relation to you.
- Your brain is so busy trying to help you hear that you have fewer mental resources to pay attention to other systems such as balance.
That’s where hearing aids come in. Treating hearing loss with quality hearing aids can help you hear without straining to make out what’s been said. You’ll have energy and headspace left over to pay attention to your surroundings, notice what’s happening around you, and prevent a fall. Hearing aids can help you maintain your balance and keep you on your feet.
Book a Hearing Test
The first step is to find out more about your hearing needs. Book a hearing test to find out what sounds you’re missing, and learn about the hearing aids that can change your life.