{"id":1143,"date":"2012-09-07T11:58:57","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T15:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eastpointe.wpengine.com\/ive-fallen-and-i-cant-get-up\/"},"modified":"2023-10-16T11:05:45","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T15:05:45","slug":"ive-fallen-and-i-cant-get-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastpointehealthandfitness.com\/integrated-healthcare\/ive-fallen-and-i-cant-get-up\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I&#8217;ve Fallen and I Can&#8217;t Get Up!&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"hs-migrated-cms-post\">\n<p><em><strong>By Margie Golankiewicz, Physical Therapist<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve all seen the commercial for the medical alert service that depicts a person who has fallen and does not have the ability to get up by themselves\u2026a terrifying situation. Falls among older adults is a huge healthcare problem and, unfortunately, it is on the rise. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Falls for adults age 65 and older are the leading cause of injury death<\/li>\n<li>In 2009, 2.2 million nonfatal fall injuries among older adults were treated in emergency departments<\/li>\n<li>Most fractures among older adults are caused by falls (over 90% of hip fractures are caused by falls)<\/li>\n<li>Many people who fall subsequently develop a fear of falling. This fear may cause them to limit their activities resulting in loss of physical fitness, poor coordination or depression, thus increasing their risk of falling again<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are just a few statistics representing the \u201cbad news\u201d. The \u201cgood news\u201d is that many falls are preventable. Following is a checklist you may use to fix hazards in your home and thus decrease your risk of falling.<\/p>\n<h2>Suggestions To Reduce Falls<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Floors<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check floors in every room<\/li>\n<li>Move furniture so that your path is clear<\/li>\n<li>Tape or coil cords and wires next to the wall so you can\u2019t trip over them<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t use extension cords. Have an electrician put in another outlet<\/li>\n<li>Remove saddles or flatten uneven surfaces between rooms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Stairs and Steps<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check the stairs both inside and outside of your home<\/li>\n<li>Keep the stairs free of all clutter<\/li>\n<li>Fix broken and uneven steps<\/li>\n<li>Have handrails put in all of your staircases. Make sure the handrails are on both sides of the stairs and are as long as the stairs<\/li>\n<li>If you have carpeting, make sure it is firmly attached to each step. Alternatively, remove the carpeting and attach non-slip rubber treads on the stairs<\/li>\n<li>Put lights in all of your staircases. If needed, have an electrician put a light switch at the top and bottom of the stairs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Bathrooms &amp; Kitchens<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>These can be dangerous places. Be extra careful<\/li>\n<li>Beware of water on the floor and clean up all spills as soon as they occur<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Bedrooms<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check all of your bedrooms<\/li>\n<li>Place a lamp close to the bed where it is easy to reach<\/li>\n<li>Put a night-light so you can see where you are walking. Some night-lights go on by themselves after dark<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>General Safety Tips<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wear sturdy shoes with thin, non-slip soles. Avoid slippers and shoes with no backs<\/li>\n<li>Improve the lighting in your home. Use brighter light bulbs (at least 60 watts). Use lampshades or frosted bulbs to reduce glare<\/li>\n<li>Be careful around pets<\/li>\n<li>Keep emergency numbers in large print near the phone or have them programmed into your speed dial<\/li>\n<li>Put a phone near the floor in case you fall and cannot get up<\/li>\n<li>Think about wearing an alarm device that will help in case you fall and cannot get up<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Staying Healthy<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Have your vision checked at least once a year by an eye doctor. Poor vision can increase your risk of falls<\/li>\n<li>Have your doctor or pharmacist look at all of the medicine you take, even over-the-counter medication. Some medicine can make you sleepy or dizzy or blur your vision which can lead to a fall.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>In addition to using the household checklist provided, if you would like a fall risk assessment performed by a Physical Therapist then don\u2019t hesitate to contact us. We can develop a specific exercise program of Balance and Fall Prevention Training for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Margie Golankiewicz, Physical Therapist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-physical-therapy"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-05 12:03:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastpointehealthandfitness.com\/integrated-healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastpointehealthandfitness.com\/integrated-healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastpointehealthandfitness.com\/integrated-healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastpointehealthandfitness.com\/integrated-healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastpointehealthandfitness.com\/integrated-healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eastpointehealthandfitness.com\/integrated-healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastpointehealthandfitness.com\/integrated-healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastpointehealthandfitness.com\/integrated-healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastpointehealthandfitness.com\/integrated-healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastpointehealthandfitness.com\/integrated-healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}