Videotaping Exposes Incorrect Weight-Shifting as Main Cause of Falls among Seniors

The Vancouver Sun recently reported that falls among the elderly is predominately caused by improper weight shifting, as determined by a study that video-monitored seniors in two B.C.-based long-term care facilities in order to analyze precisely what led to their falls.

The fact that seniors fall, and the damaging aftermath of falling is widely recognized. Falls are the primary cause of injury-related deaths in older adults, and falls are responsible for 90 percent of hip fractures and 60 percent of head injuries. What was less understood is the reason that seniors fall in the first place.

The study looked at video recordings of 227 falls taken by 130 seniors in a variety of situations in hallways, dining rooms and lounges. 70 percent of the time, the fall was related to a failed execution to walk, sit or stand in place. By the shifting their weight improperly, the individual was unable to maintain stability and suffered a fall.

The center of gravity is the main culprit of this problem. Reaching or leaning beyond their base of support causes the person to lose their balance and fall. It could happen when turning, reaching or standing up. At the end of the maneuver the person isn’t in a stable enough position to hold their weight.

Subsequent to this problem is the fall itself and what the body instinctively does to protect itself from injury, which is to hold out the arms to break the fall. Although 75 percent of seniors reportedly held out their arms, it didn’t reduce their risk for head injury. 37 percent of people who fell hit their head. The hypothesis is lack of strength and muscle conditioning prevents this defense mechanism from being effective.

Since strengthening muscles is one factor that seniors can control, the recommendation is to participate in an exercise program that increases strength and endurance.

The other causes of falls relate to trips (20 percent) and bumping into someone or hitting a closing door (10 percent). 25 percent of trips were related to interference with a table or the leg of a chair. The report recommends reevaluating the design of furniture in seniors’ residences to eliminate legs in favor of central bases.

Incorrect use of walkers can also be problematic when the user leans beyond their center of gravity, causing them to sidestep to regain their balance, except the legs of the walker interfere with the movement causing them to essentially get tangled in the walker and fall.

These are exciting findings because the actual cause of fall among seniors has remained elusive until now. It’s impossible to gauge the cause of a fall after the fall has taken place. The future of fall prevention may lie with technological advances such as sensor-based fall monitoring systems, as reported in the Sun.

The prevalence of falls for the seniors living in community-based residences is staggering. Approximately half of all people living in residence and one third of those living independently fall once per year at a minimum.

The fear of falling can also impact the health of seniors by discouraging them from activity. Being sedentary can weaken a person’s health because their muscles weaken. Seniors at risk of falling generally take multiple medications, or have a condition that compromises their balance or coordination such as diabetes or Parkinson’s, or a history of stroke.

Falling is a major health issue for the senior community and the senior individual that sustains fall-related injuries. The finding presented in this article only reiterate the fact that fall prevention should be a central focus for everyone involved in the health and wellbeing of senior loved ones.