I often post about health information that impacts expensive issues like heart disease, dementia and diabetes.
Falls are a major source of disability and death among the elderly. About one out of 4 people over age 65 will fall every year.
Reaction time is critical in preventing a fall. We can add this to strength and balance as essential physical fitness elements in seniors.
Here’s an article with exercises for training reaction time.
Wendy
In college they taught us how to fall without getting hurt, don’t try to stop the fall, but fall gracefully to minimize the hurt.
Falling without hurting yourself
GoogleAI:
To fall without hurting yourself, you must protect your head, maximize your body’s surface area, and roll with the impact instead of fighting it. Stiffening up or trying to catch yourself with locked limbs is the most common cause of fractures and severe joint injuries. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The 4 Golden Rules of Falling
Regardless of which direction you are falling, always apply these core defensive principles:
- Stay Loose: Exhale quickly and let your body go lymp. Tense muscles and rigid joints transfer the entire shock directly to your bones. [1, 2, 3, 4]
- Protect Your Head: Your skull is your absolute priority. Tuck your chin firmly against your chest to protect the back of your head, or turn your face to the side if falling forward. [1, 2]
- Land on “Meat”, Not Bone: Twist your body mid-air to direct the impact toward heavily padded areas like your buttocks, outer thighs, or the muscles of your upper back. Avoid landing directly on your knees, hips, or tailbone. [1, 2, 3]
- Spread the Impact: Do not let a single point absorb the force. Slapping the ground with your full palms and forearms helps disperse the kinetic energy safely. [1, 2, 3]
Directional Techniques
1. Falling Backward [1]
- Tuck your chin into your chest immediately so your head does not whip backward onto the pavement.
- Bend your knees quickly to drop your center of gravity, bringing you closer to the floor before impact.
- Round your back like a rocking chair.
- Do not reach back with stiff arms. Instead, extend your arms out and slap the ground with flat palms and forearms as you roll back to distribute the shock. [1, 2, 3, 4]
2. Falling Forward [1]
- Turn your face to the side to protect your nose, teeth, and eyes. [1, 2, 3]
- Keep joints loose: Keep your elbows and knees slightly bent. Do not extend straight wrists to break your fall, which easily causes fractures. [1, 2, 3]
- Catch on your forearms: Try to land in a modified, wide push-up position using your entire forearms and flat palms to absorb the weight. [1]
3. Falling Sideways [1]
Not that I ever used the technique. 
The Captain
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Any idea why the word l i m p is banned by Fooldom
Yes women insult men with that word. LOL
I heard that from another guy.
Thank god the fool is here to protect us.
L I M P wristed was an ancient slur against supposed “effeminate” males, often enacted by a drop of the hand at the wrist accompanied by a slight roll of the eyes….L I M P
Well, David, you are fully protected here at the Fool. Like all blue-blooded males.
A couple of years ago the boss and I were grocery shopping and on entering the store from the parking lot she tripped and fell. Of course I helped her up and and as if she didn’t already know I suggested she be careful. Well a couple months later I tripped and fell at exactly the same spot. Other than it being embarrassing and having 43 folks offering help or whisper under their breathes ‘look at that old phart’ both of us were OK.
We hold hands a lot more when approaching curbs. Hadn’t done it during 60 years of marriage and now all of a sudden we feel the need to hold hands. Who’d a thought?
Oh, by the way, the site of both falls was a slight rise from the parking lot to a sidewalk out side the grocery store. It’s used for rolling shopping carts down from store level to street level. It was clearly marked with white paint and yellow paint. I’m betting there were probably 43 security cameras aimed at that spot as well.
Moral of the story ‘be careful once you reach 50 years of age’.
Yep…a lot of injury producing falls in the elderly are trip and fall incidents. Strength, power, reaction time training are all very well (if folk actually do them) but you can’t beat keeping your wits about you where fall inducing hazards are concerned…both in the home as well as out at large. So many potential hazards around…especially if combined with a typical Chronologically Enriched, shuffling type of gait.
@VeeEnn you are absolutely right that a shuffling gait is more likely to trip over the many small irregularities in the ground, such as a crack in a sidewalk or a rock on a trail.
Since I was diagnosed with early Parkinson’s Disease a couple of years ago* I make a point of taking long steps and lifting my feet.
My favorite Zumba instructor is starting live classes again (after a several-month hiatus during which I did Zumba from videos). I’m more comfortable doing familiar routines from videos but the purpose of reaction time training is to quickly change direction and balance with unexpected cues.
Wendy
Since my second lapiplasty (Jan 2025) and the realisation that I’d lost a lot of muscle mass and power al9ng with the sensory deficit in my feet, I’ve had to consciously focus on my gait and balance. The more recent tendon issues have added to the burden.
One of the things I’ve started to include in my treadmill work is, during cooldown, practising that exaggerated runway model walk (there are reels that come up on FB that look quite hilarious) It requires quite a bit of coordination to even do a straightforward “tandem” walk …where the focus is on both feet walking an imaginary straight line…but these models lift their feet high and plonk them down on the other side of the line. Right foot to left side and so on. I had to hold the side rails when trying it to start but I’m getting the hang of it now.
Dodgy feet can leave you feeling quite vulnerable
Shuffling gait is bad and so is bad posture, looking down to see the next step.
GoogleAI:
A shuffling gait combined with a stooped posture and constantly looking down at your feet creates a high risk for dangerous trips and falls.
While people often adopt this posture unconsciously to avoid tripping, it actually creates a feedback loop that destroys balance, limits forward vision, and significantly increases the chance of an injury. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Underlying Causes
This combination of symptoms is rarely just “old age” or a bad habit. It usually stems from specific physical or neurological changes: [1, 2]
- Spinal and Joint Issues: Conditions like spinal stenosis or severe arthritis can force the upper body into a hunched, forward-leaning C-curve. [1, 2, 3, 4]
- Sensory or Vision Decline: Poor vision or poor nerve feedback from the feet forces a person to look down to visually confirm where they are stepping. [1, 2, 3]
The Captain
