According to CDC statistics, over 14 million (1 in 4) adults aged 65 or older fall every year. Approximately 37% of those falls caused injury requiring medical treatment or hindered activity for a least one day. Half of older adults who report falling say they’ve fallen two or more times in the year.
Also per CDC, falls are the leading cause of injury related death among adults aged 65 years and older. In 2021, 38,742 adults 65 and older died from preventable falls. Age-adjusted fall death rate increased 41% from 55.3 per 100,000 older adults in 2012 to 78.0 per 100,000 in 2021.
2.9 million older adults were seen in emergency rooms for fall related injuries in 2021. Approximately 1 million fall related hospitalizations occur in among older adults every year. Falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries among older adults.
About one-quarter of falls result in lower activity levels due to injury or fear of falling. Half of people aged 65 or older who are hospitalized for a fall injury are not discharged to their home. Nursing home residents average 2.6 falls per person annually with 10%-20% of those resulting in serious injury and 2%-6% resulting in a fracture.
What does this have to do with anything in the Social Work Professional Health and Wellness world? Well, as I’ve said, Father Time is undefeated but we don’t have to make it easy on him. As we age we begin to lose our sense of balance while at the same time becoming more brittle. These 2 things don’t pair well together. But, there is a simple way we can measure our baseline standard and use this standard to help avoid becoming a statistic for the CDC. It’s called the sit-to-stand test or sitting-rising test (SRT)
The SRT is very basic physical assessment that will tell us about our skeletal muscle, strength, balance, and flexibility. This very simple test has been researched and works to predict mortality rates in older adults. To perform the test participants are asked to sit on the floor and then stand up using a few supports as possible. Participants start with a score of 10 and one point is deducted for each instance of support that had to be used. Example: If Mr. Thornton Melon used his forearm on the ground, then one hand on his knee and other hand on the floor to push himself up, he would receive a score of 7. Run the test at least of couple of other times. Obviously the higher the score the better.
A 2012 study by the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology showed that the SRT is a significant predictor of mortality for adults aged 51 to 80. The low SRT scoring individuals (they had to use more support to get off the floor) had a higher risk of mortality in the next 6 years. Most specifically, scores between 0 and 3 were up to six times more likely to die in that time period than those who scored 8 or above. Each point increase (or less support needed to get up) was associated with a 21% reduction in risk of mortality.
Now, this is quite obviously not gospel. But it is very useful and logical. Many factors such genetics, body composition, and other health conditions play a significant role in longevity. However, this is something we can control, test, and improve on. We can make it a point to sit on the floor and get up using a few supports as possible more often. Getting down on the floor and stretching while watching TV is good practice. We can improve and maintain our balance by brushing our teeth while standing on one foot. We can use strength training to maintain our bone density so in the event we DO fall down, we’re less likely to fracture anything. There are no downsides to getting strong and maintaining that strength as late into life as possible. “Strong people are harder to kill and more useful in general”. And self care is not selfish.
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