Who was it that said that aging is not for the faint-hearted? When I worked as a NP in a nursing home, falls were something we took very seriously – so much so that we had weekly meetings to discuss patients who were at high risk of falling. These team meetings involved physical/occupational therapy, nursing, medical, social work and activities staff.

You see, it’s not that the elderly die from the immediate aftermath of the injury – rather it’s how the decreased mobility leads to decreased lung function which sets us up for pneumonia; it’s how loss of independence profoundly impacts our identity which then leads to profound depression; it’s how  we fear being a burden on our loved ones and fear about affording the medical care we need which contributes to depression; it’s the long, slow healing process without the guarantee that we’ll even return to our baseline pre-fall state; it’s about the race against time before our muscles begin to atrophy from disuse which further weakens us emotionally and physically.

To read more about the aftermath of falls check out this link from the New York Times. To learn ways to fall-proof your home, read my article, ”Fall Prevention in the Elderly: 5 Steps You Can Take to Help Your Loved One Avoid Falling at Home“, or you can link to this article from the sidebar on the right.

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