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The Battle to Get Elderly Back on Their Feet After Falls

Falls treated as complicated medical events instead of routine part of getting old

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 8, 2008 8:46 AM CST
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(Newser) – Falling and breaking a hip is so common among the elderly it's been considered an inevitable sign of aging, but medical experts have now developed complex protocols to both prevent and treat breaks that often trigger a spiral of decline, the New York Times reports. Even minor falls "need to be taken as seriously as diabetes," a professor of geriatrics tells John Leland, who follows the cases of two women—a 94-year-old who recovered her mobility, and an 87-year-old who died within months.


Some 20% of hip-fracture patients over 65 die within a year, as the immobility after a fall makes them prone to pneumonia and infections, and exacerbates other underlying conditions, like heart and respiratory disease. And medications for treating the fall may interact poorly with other drugs the patient is taking. “If you take 70-year-olds, on average they’re taking five medications,” says one doctor. “When you get to 10 medications, the likelihood of adverse effects is close to 100%.”



Doctors say the lost confidence that often follows a fall can blight the lives of elderly patients.
Doctors say the lost confidence that often follows a fall can blight the lives of elderly patients.   (Shutter Stock)
Care homes are introducing programs to help the elderly properly recover from falls.
Care homes are introducing programs to help the elderly properly recover from falls.   (AP Photo/Stew Milne)
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It’s the fear of falling, the lost confidence. Good walkers stop walking, stop going to church. They become socially isolated and depressed. - Dr. Mary E. Tinetti, a falls expert at Yale University

Being immobile, you’re not taking deep breaths, you’re more prone to pneumonia. Or older people can develop urinary incontinence. And that can have a whole cascade of emotional consequences.
- Deanna Gray-Miceli, a University of Pennsylvania expert in geriatric falls

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health • elderly • nursing homes • eldercare • osteoporosis • geriatric medicine

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