Goodbye stilettos and slippers

Alexandra Hospital gerontologist Lydia Au treated some 30 MDS members to a very interesting talk last Saturday. She is an expert on falls amongst the elderly and gave us some good news and bad.

We learned, for example, that 1 out of 4 over 65-year-olds who have fallen and broken a hip, do not survive the first year after the fall. They generally die of infections. Women are more likely to break a hip, but they are also more likely to survive the experience! Therefore Dr Au recommends keeping up our calcium and Vitamin D levels to help retard osteoporosis.

Some factors that predispose to falls are intrinsic and not much can be done about them – the ageing process, for example, means that our balance, eyesight, hearing, blood circulation, etc. is not what it used to be. But many factors are extrinsic, and therefore controllable.

Paying attention to slippery floors, poor lighting, clutter, loose carpets is particularly important for those who have experience a fall. Because their chances of a second fall are greatly higher.

So what to look out for? Some factors are medical, like paying attention to the side-effects of drugs, monitoring blood pressure and glucose levels, avoiding rapid movements which might affect balance, and making sure that one wears the right type of shoes – avoid high heels, loose-fitting shoes, and especially open-heeled slippers.

Simple awareness, we learned, can help reduce the changes of a nasty fall. And those of us with MD – or any form of poor vision – are especially vulnerable.