Fall Prevention Week: September 18-22, 2023

Join Bertec in observing Fall Prevention Week as we focus attention on one of the greatest global public health issues recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. Falls are preventable through awareness, training and education, safety measures, physical activity, identifying sensory and motor problems that lead to falls, and targeted rehabilitation and training of those systems. Balance is so important that it is referred to as the “fifth vital sign” (next to heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, and blood pressure) across the lifespan! Bertec is devoting significant attention and resources to solving this global public health problem.

How big is the problem? Consider these statistics:

Slips, trips, and falls by the numbers:

9.2 million visits to the Emergency Room annually

$1,049 in medical costs for each fall event in the United States

In our elders…

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) define falls as “an unintentional change in position that causes a person to land at a lower level, on an object, the floor, or the ground” [1]
Falls are the leading cause for the loss of independent living and the leading cause of preventable death in those over 65. The CDC estimates that an elder dies every 20 minutes from a fall-related injury!
Over 40% of the population over 70 will experience a fall at least once a year and of those, less than half will report the fall to their doctor.

Ask yourself or the elder in your life three simple questions:

Are you worried about falling?
Do you feel unsteady when standing or walking?
Have you fallen in the past year? If yes, how many times? Were you injured?

If the answer is yes to any of these questions, see your primary care provider or rehabilitation specialist for a more detailed evaluation and intervention plan. To learn more about this screening, check out Dr. Charlie Shearer’s informative video, “Risk of Fall Evaluation for the Primary Care Practice”. Because aging affects vision, strength, mobility, and balance, these systems should be evaluated, and an appropriate prevention program started. Take this self-assessment from the CDC to check your risk for falling and share the results with your healthcare provider.

In the workplace…

Slips, trips, and falls from less than two meters are the largest cause of accidents across all sectors from heavy manufacturing to office work resulting in injuries that require medical treatment and/or more than three days off work to recover [2].
Slips, trips, and falls from the same height are the #1 cause of workplace injuries in the United States (National Safety Council).

Falling from heights as often occurs in construction and manufacturing carries a higher mortality rate but unexpected slips, tripping over objects or uneven surfaces, and falls from the same height or from a small stepladder for example, are 30% more frequent. Consider these statistics:

Construction and manufacturing: 46,750 injuries; 433 deaths

Professional, business, education, and health services: 65,750 injuries; 129 deaths

Jumping and falling are two very different movements and the brain processes how the body responds differently. Initiating a jump is volitional while responding to a slip, trip, or fall is a reflexive reaction. When you jump up or jump down, you control the “fall” by choosing how you will initiate the jump, how you will use your body, and how you will land. For example, performing a vertical jump or drop jump (where you perform a “controlled fall” off a box and immediately jump up as soon as the feet hit the ground). When you unexpectedly slip, trip, or fall, gravity controls how you will land: usually on whatever body part contacts the ground first—on the outstretched arm and hands to break the fall, on the hip or back, or on the head.

The workplace, health care providers, fitness professionals, families, and everyone at risk for falling play a role in preventing slips, trips, and falls with education, risk assessment, clinical evaluation, and training the sensory, motor, and physical factors [3]. Everyone can benefit from balance assessment and targeted balance programs to improve risk factors to prevent injury. Stay tuned during Fall Prevention Week as we highlight Bertec’s solutions ranging from functional balance; computerized dynamic posturography to assess how well the visual, vestibular, and somatosensory systems are working; vision assessment; perturbation training to prevent falls; virtual reality; and vision training.