Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
For me I had 3 falls end Nov into early Dec in my apt and 3rd fall I could not get up. 911 had to be called and that is when I ended up in hospital/rehabs....found out after over 2 months that a staph infection was causing my falling, knee was giving out. Nothing broke and I fell hard, backwards all 3 times.
There were some months that I thought I'd never walk as the infection was NOT detected. Talk about fear, it's a joy to walk with walker from not walking at all for some months.
Last edited by jaminhealth; 08-06-2017 at 10:28 PM..
Yes. I have had two orthopedic surgeons tell me that people don't actually fall and break their hip---the hip beaks first, and they fall. Osteoporosis has so thinned the hip joint that it can no longer support the weight of the upper body when standing. Any younger adult can trip and fall on a floor, and a hip fracture in that scenario would be highly unusual.
I've recently had a doctor tell me that in many,many cases, when osteoporosis is involved, this is what contributes to the fall, that without the break happening, the person may have been able to recover their balance and not fall when they stumbled or tripped.
Not only is the anesthesia a potential problem, but the bed rest which so often leads to pneumonia. My mom broke hers at 90 or 91. The day after the repair, the nurse came in to see if she could just sit up for a bit.
Mom said she knew damn well what could happen if she and insisted on, not only getting up but starting right in on walking. She recovered quite well and continued living on her own for another 5 years.
I've recently had a doctor tell me that in many,many cases, when osteoporosis is involved, this is what contributes to the fall, that without the break happening, the person may have been able to recover their balance and not fall when they stumbled or tripped.
Not only is the anesthesia a potential problem, but the bed rest which so often leads to pneumonia. My mom broke hers at 90 or 91. The day after the repair, the nurse came in to see if she could just sit up for a bit.
Mom said she knew damn well what could happen if she and insisted on, not only getting up but starting right in on walking. She recovered quite well and continued living on her own for another 5 years.
My mother died at 92. She had several strokes and could no longer communicate. However she would not sit still. She would walk, with a walker, from her bed to the TV and then back to her bed. It was almost as if she was afraid of stopping. She had one fall after another and then finally broke her hip. Because of her condition the hospital did not want to perform the surgery and sent her off to the hospice - where she died three days later.
I have three sisters and we all could have insisted that she had the surgery (if the hospital would have even performed the surgery; they were not in favor of it because of her health). But what we thought was that our mother would simply have been in more pain for a longer period of time. The odds of her making a full recovery were about zero and, even if she did, she would still have had this compulsion to move and break something else. These are not easy decisions and depend on the physical and mental state of the patients.
It is so sad!
I care for a woman 85 who fell in the bathroom, broke her hip and clavicle, a neighbor found her. She stayed in hospital/rehab from 5/31 to 7/1, she uses a cane now, has PT and OT, wants to have less care, but her walking is not that great. Always reaching for items to grab as she walks with a quad cane. I think the biggest thing for her is she doesn't walk enough after her therapy, that 1/2 hr to hour 3 x a week is not enough. She needs to get up every hour, she wants to sleep I'm sure having less than 24 hour supervision will be determined by her therapists, doctor and her 2 sons.
My Dad 88, does not have great balance unless he is looking straight ahead, I always say, whatever you do, don't fall!
Also, pneumonia causes death with persons who fall and dont' get enough therapy.
Elderly are in much more fragile and compromised health due to aging, illness, medications, diseases processes. It all makes them not only more likely to fall, but to find themselves unable to recover if they break a hip or other bones. Medications and illnesses also negatively affect their balance, and can disorient them. A fall, and then the trauma of a fracture and subsequent healing can do them in.
Throw in some confusion due to dehydration and an infection, their prognosis doesn't usually look good.
[quote=winterbird;49099375]I don't understand why falling pretty much guarantees that an elderly person will never be the same. When my grandmother fell, she broke her hip and never fully recovered. And everyone was panicked when my other grandmother fell in her own home as well. Is it simply that the elderly don't recover as fast or what? Neither grandmother died from their falls but did decline in other areas after the falls.
Just curious.[/quote
For many, the fear of falling after a major fall is a major cause. I am an OT who works with elderly, often after falls, and they are in terror or getting back on the walker. The fear actually makes them MORE of a fall risk. Then they stop doing things that require getting up, they minimize walking, which accelerates the decline.
If they had surgery after a fall with a broken bone, the anesthesia does a number on many elderly and they don't quite bounce back.
A 3rd reason is the fall was actually a sign of a decline that was already happening.
I don't understand why falling pretty much guarantees that an elderly person will never be the same. When my grandmother fell, she broke her hip and never fully recovered. And everyone was panicked when my other grandmother fell in her own home as well. Is it simply that the elderly don't recover as fast or what? Neither grandmother died from their falls but did decline in other areas after the falls.
Just curious.[/quote
For many, the fear of falling after a major fall is a major cause. I am an OT who works with elderly, often after falls, and they are in terror or getting back on the walker. The fear actually makes them MORE of a fall risk. Then they stop doing things that require getting up, they minimize walking, which accelerates the decline.
If they had surgery after a fall with a broken bone, the anesthesia does a number on many elderly and they don't quite bounce back.
A 3rd reason is the fall was actually a sign of a decline that was already happening.
Very true, my client is deathly afraid of falling again, she takes 1 step at a time, that's it, puts the cane out, step step, repeat. I would love for her to take some consecutive steps.
My grandmother was never the same after she fell and fractured her pelvis. From what I have been reading, balance becomes an issue for older people also which causes them to fall in the first place, that and what Kathryn said. That's why I do balance exercises and lift weights at the gym. I may only be 62 (don't you just love the "only 62" part?) but the people in my family start going downhill in their late 60's. I don't want to get to that point.
Thanks everyone for the responses. This has been puzzling me for some time and I was kind of embarrassed to ask as I didn't know if it was a "dumb" question...lol. I recently saw an episode of Judge Judy and she said that a gerontologist said his best advice to the elderly for living long is DON'T FALL! So that got me to thinking about it again.
I am finding my balance has seriously deteriorated and I didn't even know it until I started seeing a trainer and was shocked. I now work on exercises to try and strengthen my balance precisely for this reason.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm sure having less than 24 hour supervision will be determined by her therapists, doctor and her 2 sons.
