Medical Alert: Why Are Falls So Dangerous for Aging Adults?
Medical Alert: You might already have personal experience with falls yourself and know that falling is never graceful, enjoyable, or fun.
But for aging adults, falls are downright dangerous because of a variety of different factors. A medical alert system might be something to think about.
Medical Alert in Ladue MO: Falls
There’s Potential for Broken Bones
According to the CDC, one fall out of every five results in a serious injury. That’s 20 percent of all falls. Your senior might break a bone, especially if she’s dealing with other health issues, like osteoporosis, that make a broken bone more likely. Broken bones, particularly in key areas like your senior’s hips, can take a lot longer for her to heal and they may even require surgery. That can be a lot of trauma for your senior’s body to process.
Head Injuries Are Also a Factor
Second to broken bones are the other major injury she faces, which are head injuries. Head injuries can lead to concussions, excessive bleeding, and other long-lasting health issues. Injuring her brain in a fall can endanger your senior’s ultimate goals, including aging in place for as long as she’s able to do so. Avoiding a fall is always preferable.
Fear Can Lead to a Loss of Mobility
Whether your senior actually falls or simply experiences a near miss, fear can have lasting effects. Many aging adults who are afraid of falling put themselves into a bad situation by reducing their mobility. While that’s a voluntary decision at first, your senior finds herself quickly losing even more mobility. By not moving, she reduces her ability to move and ironically increases her fall risk.
Medical Alert: Falling Once Makes Someone Twice as Likely to Fall Again
Another scary fact from the CDC is that once an aging adult falls, she is twice as likely to experience at least one more fall. Even if your elderly family member is lucky enough to avoid a serious injury with her first fall, she may not be that lucky the second or third time that she falls. This is something that you want to prevent if it’s at all possible.
One of the options you might want to consider if your elderly family member is at risk of falling is to find a medical alarm that also has a fall detection component. This can help you and your senior to act quickly if she does experience a fall and make sure that she’s got the medical alert that she needs as soon as possible.
