Sunday, May 15, 2011

Hip Fractures and Fall Prevention

by Kris Pitcher

Did you know that people don't fall and break a hip, they break a hip and then fall? This might not be a topic at the front of mind for you. But if you have older adults in your life, which we all do, you'll find the information helpful.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation estimates more than 10 million people over age 50 in the U.S. have osteoporosis and another 34 million are at risk for it. If you need one more reason to do strength training - THIS IS IT. Weight bearing exercise helps us maintain, and even build our bone density as we age. This is so important.

Having osteoporosis is a risk factor for hip fracture. Exercising regularly and maintaining strength and balance is important as we age. Women sustain three quarters of all hip fractures according to the Centers for Disease Control. One out of five hip fracture patients dies within a year of their injury (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2002;50:1644-50.)

Most falls happen in your own home. Keeping a tidy, clutter free environment is important to reducing trip hazards. We can improve our environment at any age. Think about your floor surfaces, electrical cords, stairways and walkways.

We can also have our eyesight checked as falls can result from poor vision. Checking our prescriptions for side effects of blurry vision would be smart too. All these things add up and stack up against you in terms of creating trip hazards.

Keeping ourselves, and our loved ones, safe means we can be independent longer. The stronger we are, the better! I always remind people...if you can't stand up and sit down...you can't go to the bathroom on your own. Once you can't do that - you're a handful for someone.

Do what you can to keep osteoporosis at bay and prevent falls by keeping yourself strong and your environment clear of hazards. Live a blissful life, longer!

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for this post. As a woman nearing my 40s, this is very helpful information. It would certainly be better to take some measures and prevent osteoporosis rather than wait for it to happen and have it treated. I am very lazy when it comes to exercising, however, your post made me realized how important it is as my age advances. I certainly don't want it fracturing my hips because I have apprehensions about hip replacement surgeries considering the issues surrounding the DePuy hip replacement recall.

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  2. Indeed to keep ourselves healthy and young is to live an active lifestyle by getting into sports or other things which may be beneficial to your health.
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  3. This guide makes a lot of sense. These things will truly help us prevent hip accidents. However, accidents are accidents; and there are times that we cannot avoid these things. When things get worse and you really need a hip surgery, just be careful in choosing as to the type of hip implant that you will use or better yet find other alternatives other than hip implant like a Bone marrow Polotherapy. As you can observe, many patients are losing confidence with these types of products because it can easily wear out which causes a lot of pain and other complications. You might also heard about DePuy Pinnacle lawsuits being filed everywhere because of these faulty hip implants.

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