XenaJada Asked November 2023
Falling: What are the most common circumstances?
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Those of you who have an elderly loved one who has fallen; what were the circumstances? I’m curious to see the most common causes of falls.
My mother has fallen numerous times in her yard because she never watches where she steps and the ground is uneven. She refuses to use a cane or rollater for balance.
She has also tripped on throw rugs but puts down more if I remove them. She lives alone. I’m surprised she hasn’t fallen in the shower.
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My mother did not let me know times that she took a slip and fall, saying in a childlike voice "I don't have to tell you everything." "I need to know these times that you have fallen, mother."
Another time she uttered "A walker makes me look old. "HELLO - you're 94" was my response."
In answer to your question about the most common cause of falls, I would say 'balance/equilibrium.' Or in my mother's case, VERY low vision. She had a terrible time stepping off a curb, doing so very tentatively.
My Mom shuffles. Yet, when she falls, she never falls forward, indicating to me that she hasn't fallen while in a forward momentum from shuffling. Most of the falls were at night when she wasn't awake enough to be walking. She could take the turn from her bed to the bathroom. However it was the straightaway to the bathroom where she would just crumple...usually because she couldn't maintain balance when she was shuffling.
We worked on sit-to-stand, "stair stepping" (it was only a 4 inch rise) which works the abs, and that prevented nearly all the falls.
My Mom rarely, if any, fell during the day while she was awake.
Physical and occupational therapy exercises helped my mom tremendously. She gained strength and balance.
She lived to be 95 and never went into a wheelchair. She did need a walker towards her latter years.
My mother has fallen many times both before and since she moved in with me 6 years ago.
She fell walking to her next-door neighbor's house and split her lip on a concrete planter which led to stitches and a Z-pack which led to C-Diff and an 8 day hospital stay. And that was 16 years ago when she was 80 years old.
The worst one was January 2020 when she tripped while standing up from a chair and broke her hip upon hitting the floor.
She has sat down on the side of the tub thinking it was the toilet and fallen backward into it. That resulted in yet an other compression fracture the x-rays couldn't determine specifically because she has had so many from her osteoporosis.
She fell sideways while holding on to her walker - with a death grip - and it ripped the skin off of her finger and she split her forehead open. So then it was stitches again and several visits to a hand doctor to monitor the healing of her finger.
She literally fell from standing when she had Covid in December 2021.
She has most recently fallen off of the bed before while reaching for her walker that I put out of her reach. A couple of bruises from that one.
And that's just a sampling of her fall history.
The main issues surrounding falls, IMO are poor eyesight and loss of balance. Once they are down, the inability to get themselves up from the floor is also a big liability.
If your mom is refusing a cane or rollator, it may be time to remind her that if she's alone and she falls, a trip to a hospital and then a facility rehab may well be in store the future if she can't come to terms with some preventative tactics to maintain the independence she desperately hangs onto. And you're right to be concerned with bathroom falls, that's very possible.
Low blood pressure does cause dizziness. When I was in my teens and 20’s. I was an avid cyclist and exercised all the time.
My blood pressure was always low. Every now and then I would faint.
My Mother fell over her 4 prong cane when she was going to the kitchen to answer the phone.
She hit the wall and broke her neck in C-1.
Just a half inch ,she would have died or been paralyzed.
That fall started the decline in Mother .After she fell,she had one health problem after the other til I lost her.
Anyway,that's what a fall cost my Mom~
If you want to live a long, healthy life. don't fall!
People who are at a fall risk should not live alone.
His first fall..the one that sort of got the dominos falling was an actual slip and fall on black ice.
Each fall after that was the start of a noticeable decline.
He had 9 falls over a 3 year time period and I kept a note of them on the side of the refrigerator. He was on Hospice and I wanted to make sure the Nurse and the CNA were aware of any falls. So in my Husbands case I think the fall was the result of a mini stroke.
He also had 2 occasions where he "slipped" out of a chair and I had to call for a Lift Assist. He would just slide down as he stretched his legs out and eventually his butt would be on the edge of the chair and I could not get him back up. But I would not categorize these as "falls"
Rehab and home health were good. PT and OT helped her gain some strength and improve her ability to balance.
The OT went through our home and gave us tips on how to make our home as safe as possible to deter falls. I don’t think it is possible to avoid all falls. She fell in spite of our best efforts.
Falls are hard for them and also hard for us to see them getting bruised and hurting. My mom was fortunate that she never broke any bones. Stitches yes, but no broken bones.
Not using her walker
Using her walker but refusing to pay attention to where she was going
Having no core strength for refusing PT repeatedly
Refusing to push the button to ask for help, admitting her "weakness"
Trying to help others to show her non existent strength and abilities
Insisting on sitting on the very EDGE of her wheelchair
Insisting she could walk when she could not
Refusing to ask for help on the toilet
Not believing she had neuropathy in her feet which made them numb while chronically complaining about neuropathy in her feet
Those are a few reasons I can think of.
1. Over medication with blood pressure and/or heart meds, along with dehydration and orthostatic hypotension. Often blood pressure measure higher in MD office that it would in relaxed circumstances at home. BP in anyone who has labile/unstable BP should be measure twice a day. Seniors lose their drive to know when they need to take in fluids, so fluids are important.
2. BALANCE issues. These are usually lower brain moderated, and they are a part of aging. I always knew this as an RN, but now as an 81 year old I not only KNOW but I FEEL it. I weight 143 and stand 5'7". I weighed, younger, about 120 steadily thoughout my life, so I now weigh the most I have ever weighed. Yet, standing on the bus I feel like a feather in the wind. I better hold on. The balance is not there. I consistently walk a mile or more daily and I do balance exercises, but balance changes with age.
The one certainty with age is that WE WILL FALL.
No matter WHAT, we will fall.
Best out to you Xena.
Thankfully with all of his falls(and there were many)he only once broke a bone and that was the ball of his hip, though there were a couple times when he did hit his head and had a brain bleed.
Often it is a fall that will kill someone, so they should not be taken lightly.
Maybe it's time that your mother shouldn't be living alone anymore.
Why, oh WHY do they start climbing on stuff? I’m convinced they ALL do it.