Falls prevention at any age

A couple of people I know had falls in the last month - myself included - so I’ve been thinking about what we can do to prevent falls and injury at any age.

Sometimes being at risk of falling is a result of a health issue, like poor eyesight, incontinence, change of medication or a neurological condition. Be sure to check in with your GP or myself if you feel like your balance has gotten worse recently. Here are a few commonsense tips for around the home:

• Identify and fix up any trip hazards in your living space.
• Get rid of shoes with poor grip, watch your laces.
• Don’t rush chores, take the time to be careful.
• Plan your path and make sure you will have access to any walking aids (if you use them). For example, don’t leave your stick behind at the other end of the house.

​NSW Falls Prevention have a nifty strength and balance video that anyone can do. All you need is a chair and a stretchy exercise band/theraband. I highly recommend it!

Good fall prevention is also about how we recover after we’ve lost balance. This is a simple one that I like to do for balance and coordination. Imagine you are standing in the middle of a clock-face. In front of you is 12 o’clock, to the left is 9 o’clock, to the right is 6 o’clock and behind you is 3 o’clock.

1. Keeping your weight on your back foot in the middle of the clock-face, tap one foot out at 12, 6 and 9 o’clock. To tap at 6 o’clock, take it across your body.
2. Do the same with eyes closed.
3. Can you do this slowly or can you do it fast with tapping 3 times? You can also get someone to call out any number from 1 to 12, and see how accurately you can respond.
4. Step one foot forward to a number but this time transfer all your weight on the moving foot so that you end up with both feet on 12. Do this with eyes open and eyes closed.
5. Now step out slightly wider than what you have been doing, see if you can still keep your balance. How wide can you go before you lose your balance? Can you regain your balance by moving the other foot or your arms?
6. Step forward and balance on the front foot, almost like a hop.
7. For a height or step challenge, stand on a footstool and step down as you go forward, backward, left and right. Make sure the step is secure before doing this!
8. Go back to any of the easier steps, and as you do it, get someone to give you a little tap/push sideways on the shoulder to simulate being bumped. See if you can recover your balance.

Here are some short videos if you need to visualise!

Tapping.mp4
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File Type:	mp4

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step forward.mp4
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large step.mp4
File Size:	36380 kb
File Type:	mp4

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