My father who just turned 80
maintains an active lifestyle with regular exercise and various social
activities. One day, we noticed that he had sustained some bruises near his
left eye, and it was only upon further probing that we discovered that he
actually had a fall while he was out.
My family became exceedingly concerned,
with our subsequent conversations being centered on mobility issues and how to
prevent future mishaps. My father was quite calm the entire time, telling us that
the fall was light and that he was completely fine.
I realize that as adult children and
concerned caregivers with good intentions, we may over-react and
unintentionally threaten the autonomy of elders who know that they are fully
responsible for their actions and do take precautions to prevent falls. After
all, he did not want us to be worried and/or doubt his mobility. As such, we
need to learn to trust our parents as well.
A geriatrician friend recounted
tensions that sometimes occurred between the elders and their concerned
children over fall prevention. While the best way to reduce the risk of falling
would simply be to limit mobility, this will ironically serve as a way to
increase the incidence of falls. The lack of physical activity will further weaken
the muscle tone and strength which then increases the risk of falls when moving
about.
Another geriatrician observed that the risks of falls do not necessarily
lessen with the presence of caregivers. Elders who tend to be vigilant on their
own may not be very much on guard when there is someone else around them to
react when they fall.
As caregivers, we want to encourage
elders to stay as mobile, active and as independent as possible, instead of
restricting their movements because of the fear that they may fall.
Hence,
steps to prevent falls should focus on the maintenance of autonomy, including
various measures to ensure a safe home environment (since this is where falls
are most common), consulting the doctors if there are factors affecting steady
movement (such as vision problems, medications that affect balance and so on)
and also getting the elders to learn tips to prevent falls – which (as I
suspect) they are already quite knowledgeable through everyday experiences.
Visit the
Health Promotion Board website (www.hpb.gov.sg)
and have a read on the article named “Fall Prevention Program” for a copy of the Home Safety
Checklist.
You can also visit iCare Life - Home Safety and Falls Prevention to learn more about preventing falls.
Link of article: http://www.hpb.gov.sg/HOPPortal/programmes-article/HPB037402
Dr. Thang Leng Leng
Associate Professor
National University of Singapore (NUS)
(Writer is a member of iCare Life Advisory Board)
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