High risk areas
Many people will experience injuries from falls, often minor ones like scratches and bruises that heal easily. However, some body parts are very delicate or essential, and severe injuries to them can lead to life-changing consequences.
- Head (including face and teeth) – injuries to the head can be life changing. While bruises and cuts can heal easily, if the impact causes bleeding in the brain, you can easily lose cognitive and / or body functions – being a prisoner within your own body is not pleasant at all. Bruising /fracture of the face and loosing some teeth can look and feel traumatic, it hurts more your pride and confidence than have any long lasting effect.
- Tailbone, hip and spine – Falling backward or to the side can lead to back or hip injuries, which can be especially problematic for seniors who often already have chronic back pain. Additionally, injuries to the tailbone can make sitting very uncomfortable, impacting daily activities like enjoying coffee, watching TV, or reading. Landing forcefully on the buttocks can even result in spinal fractures, especially in seniors whose spines are weakened due to osteoporosis.
- Wrists – Most people naturally try to break their fall with their hands, which often leads to wrist injuries. The wrist consists of eight small bones, and due to their intricate connection, healing can be challenging, resulting in lasting effects. In some cases, people still experience discomfort more than a year after the injury.
- Knee, elbow and shoulder – For seniors, knees and shoulders can be problematic even without fall-related injuries. Adding injuries from falls only exacerbates these issues.
Ways to reduce impact to the vulnerable areas
Creating an acronym like “ASAP” for the four primary ways to protect vulnerable areas from falling is a helpful memory aid. It makes it easier to remember and recall these important safety measures.
Avoid (A) – You can prevent falls by regaining your balance, freeing a trapped foot, being more aware of your surroundings or avoiding unnecessary risks. Avoiding risky situations is always the best approach. However, it’s important to acknowledge that not all accidents can be avoided.
Share (S) – When someone falls, the harm they experience is usually because of the force of impact. For instance, if a fall generates a force of 100 pounds and only one part of the body has to absorb it, it can lead to broken bones because that’s too much pressure for one area to handle. However, if this force is distributed among ten different body parts, each part only has to deal with 10 pounds of pressure. This is why we teach techniques like rolling, which helps spread the impact across multiple body parts instead of concentrating it on just one, like an elbow or wrist..
Absorb (A) – Breaking a crystal glass is easier than breaking a plastic cup. This is because crystal glass is stiff, while plastic has some flexibility or “give.” Even a small amount of flexibility, similar to how a basketball player bends their knees and lands toe-heel (instead of landing with straight legs and flat feet), helps protect against knee injuries from landing impacts.
Protect (P) – In some high-risk activities, none of the other precautions are foolproof, so you may need to rely on “protection.” This includes things like helmets for cyclists or wrist, knee, and elbow protectors for skateboarders. Additionally, for seniors dealing with conditions like dementia or physical limitations such as MS, immediate protection may be necessary before considering other options. These protections can be hip protectors, wearable fall-alerts, walkers, walking cane, etc.