Falls in the elderly: The Facts

As I have discussed in the past 2 blogs regarding falls in the elderly that are focused mainly on simple ways to assess if they have a tendency to fall. Now you may be wondering, what is the big deal with falling?

Short answer. A LOT!

Long Answer: As one ages, just like a mechanical equipment, the body undergoes "wear and tear" if I may simply it. Anatomically and physiologically, the body may not be able to handle circumstances as compared to when it was younger. Thus any trauma or accidents such as a fall may be too much to handle.

So now with the facts.

1. Elderly falls that resulted in fractures usually affect the wrist, spine and hip. 90% of those occur in the hip. The effect of course will be immobility leading more to physical deterioration. *


2. Elderly falls is 10x more likely to be hospitalized and 8x more likely to die as compared to children. *


3. 2x longer hospitalization  with increased risk for home care. *


3. Increasing age also has increasing mortality (death) due to falls. *


4. Common injuries that occur in elderly falls, Head trauma, fractures as mentioned above, dislocations or soft tissue injuries. *

* Statistics and facts taken from article of George Fuller, COL, MC, USA in his article in American Family Physician.

So now that the facts are stated, one can now understand why elderly falls can be devastating to the one affected and to their love ones. Is this preventable. The short answer is "Yes". That will be the next set of topics. Stay tuned.

Falls in the Elderly: How to Assess their Balance Part 1

Last August 2011, I was asked to give a short seminar on fall prevention in the elderly by Home Health Care. It gave me a chance to provide information on helping the allied medical and medical audience together with caregivers on taking care of the elderly. So to start this set of blogs, I initially asked myself, if I am taking care of someone in this age group, how can I know if he or she has problems in balance or mobility?

George F. Fuller, COL, MC, USA from White House Medical Clinic, Washington D.C. provided an article under American Family Physician that one way to screen the elderly is by noting if they have a history of fall within the last 6 months. If an elderly has more than 2x of occurrence of fall within 6 months an evaluation is warranted for any possible underlying problem. This may already denote a declining physical and physiological status.

Now if you like to test the mobility of an elderly, an easy way to do it is the Timed "Up and Go" Test. Wherein an individual is timed from doing this test. The patient sits on a standard armchair, stands up and walks for 3 meters (10 feet), turns around and return to a sitting position.


The individual is freely mobile if done in < 10 seconds; mostly independent if done within 11 to 20 seconds; Variable mobility if within 20 to 30 seconds and Impaired mobility if > 30 seconds. This will help you gauge if your elderly patient or love one has impaired mobility already.

Reference for Timed "Up and Go" Test is found on Table 6 of the link from Sir George Fuller's article under American Family Physician. (Click on the link above)

Next topic will be another way to test standing balance.