Falls

Falls are a major problem as we age.  AgeUK [2018] report that:

• Falls are the largest cause of emergency hospital admissions for older people, and significantly impact on long term outcomes, e.g. being a major precipitant of people moving from their own home to long-term nursing or residential care.

• There are around 220,000 falls-related emergency hospital admissions in England among patients aged 65 and older.

• Unaddressed falls hazards in the home are estimated to cost the NHS in England £435m.

• The total cost of fragility fractures to the UK has been estimated at £4.4bn which includes £1.1bn for social care. Hip fractures account for around £2bn of this sum.

• Falls in hospitals are the most commonly reported patient safety incident with more than 240,000 reported in acute hospitals and mental health trusts in England and Wales (that is more than 600 per day).

• 4,984 people aged 65+ died from having a fall in 2016 (E&W, latest available data), equating to 13 people every day. Of these 2,550 were women and 2,334 were men.

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Improving balance through mindful movement can address this.  As Blackaby (2018) comments: “As we age it is noticeable that in the population at large balance seems to get worse and many people sustain injuries through falls.  In the very elderly this can be the start of a slippery slope: someone falls, injures themselves and, in the intervening weeks during the recovery loses strength and mobility, rather quickly finding themselves feeling considerably worse off than before the fall.  Balance really does improve with practice, so it is worth persevering.”