HEALTH & WELLNESS Our Newsletter About Your Health and Caring for Your Body
Did you know that falls are among the biggest risks to older adults? As we age, we go through several physical, cognitive, and sensory changes that can significantly impact our balance. An impaired balance means a higher chance of falling–and a higher chance of falling makes it more likely that you might suffer a severe injury. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to improve your balance, no matter your age. At Reddy-Care, we offer dedicated fall prevention plans to address your fall-related risk factors. We’ll help you improve your strength, balance, and stability to stay healthy and active throughout your golden years! To illustrate just how important a good fall prevention plan is, we want to share the stories of two patients, whom we’ll call Janice and Carol. Janice underwent a dedicated fall prevention plan; Carol didn’t. STRONG BALANCE, STRONG CONFIDENCE
Unfortunately, Carol’s insurance limited how frequently she could see a physical therapist, and rehabilitating her hip injury was her primary concern. While we did work with her to restore her strength and balance to where it was before her injury, she ran out of sessions before we could develop it further. However, perhaps the biggest issue for Carol was that her fall and subsequent injury really shook her confidence. While she felt safe performing exercises in our clinic, she worried about performing them at home, fretting that she would injure herself–or worse, fall again. As a result, she sank back into her sedentary lifestyle, which only worsened her arthritis symptoms and made it more likely that she would fall again. If we’d been able to continue working with Carol, we could have improved her physical balance and helped build her confidence, too. How do we know this? Because it’s what happened with Janice.
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Carol’s Story: Shaken Confidence and One Bad Injury
Carol was 68 when she first visited us. Although she’d been fairly active when she was younger, she developed knee osteoarthritis in her early 60s, which led to her becoming much more sedentary. Her pain and restricted mobility caused her to fall and break her hip, and she worked with us on her rehabilitation. We were understandably concerned about Carol’s fall risk, as she met several of the criteria:
• A history of falls (falling once doubles the likelihood that you’ll fall again)
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• Weak legs and core
• Knee pain and impaired gait from osteoarthritis
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