By Michele Tenney
Here’s to Your Health
Michele Tenney
I recently had a client fall on her walk to the gym for an appointment she had with me. When she arrived she was quite shaken, bruised and a little bloody. However, the injuries she suffered were benign in comparison to what could have happened had she not practiced the “art” of falling. Her injuries healed very quickly and did not keep her from proceeding with her future workouts.
There are some very important techniques that everyone young and aging should know about.
Here are some alarming facts regarding falling from the World Health Organization:
– Falls are the second leading cause of accidental or unintentional injury deaths worldwide.
– Each year an estimated 646,000 individuals die from falls globally, of which over 80 percent are in low- and middle-income countries.
– Adults older than 65 years old suffer the greatest number of fatal falls.
– 37.3 million falls that are severe enough to require medical attention occur each year.
I thought it would be prudent of me to bring some awareness to the art of falling. Obviously, people of all ages can fall; however, age is one of the key risk factors and children are just as much at risk. Other risk factors include occupationally hazardous working conditions, poor mobility, cognition and vision, and underlying medical conditions.
Let’s talk about prevention. Learning how to fall should be a high priority for everyone because an ounce of prevention goes a long way. My 96-year-old client tells me she always has a plan in place because she lives at home alone. For example, she makes sure the floor isn’t wet either in her kitchen or her bathroom and she doesn’t rush to answer the door or phone. She also comes into the gym three times a week for core, balance and strength training.
If you find yourself in a situation where you are falling, here are your techniques to remember how to do it for a safer outcome:
- Stay bent, keeping your elbows and knees bent at all cost. When you become rigid and tighten up is when you run the risk of breaking bones.
- Protect your head. If you’re falling forward, turn your head to the side. If you’re falling backward, tuck your chin towards your chest so your head doesn’t hit the ground.
- Land on the meaty part of your body – if you keep your knees and elbows bent and make landing on your muscle intentional you’ll be less likely to crack a hip or tailbone.
- Keep falling. Your instinct will tell you to stop falling, but your best bet is to try and roll with the fall. The more you succumb to the fall, the safer the fall will be.
I hope you never have to use these techniques and that today finds you well, happy and balanced. It’s a great time of year to go out for a walk, a hike or a bike ride. We should take advantage of it while we still can.
Here’s to your health.