LOYOLA, TRISHA FAE B.

Falls and Fall Related Injury (FRI)

Falls and fall related injuries are common among older adults. According to Rubenstein
and Josephson 2002, 20 to 30 percent of older adults experience mild to serious injury such as
fractures and serious lacerations and have been the leading cause of hospitalization and visit in
the emergency department (Owens et al. 2009). The way the person falls determines the type of
injury sustained - wrist injury usually results from backward fall and hip fracture typically from
fall to side. In a 12 studies that are evaluated, accidental/environmental-related is a leading cause
of fall among older adults with a percentage of 30-50% in most series. Age-associated
impairment such as vision, hearing and memory increases their risk (Rubenstein, 2006).

It has been a chaos in the family since due to these incidents older adults loss their
independence and increase health care utilizations (Richmond et al. 2002; Inaba et al. 2003;
Boonen et al. 2004). Due to these circumstances, National Institute of Aging (NIH) promoting
and reinforcing such preventions. First, being physically active - regular exercise improves
muscle, keeps joints, tendons and ligaments flexible. A good example exercise for older adults
are climbing stairs and walking. Second, have a regular checkup for possible impairment in
eyesight and hearing wherein eyeglasses or hearing aid may be prescribed to prevent and lower
the risk of fall. Lastly, stand up slowly - getting up too quickly can cause blood pressure to rise
that can cause dizziness.

Falls and fall related injuries are unpredictable and causes of these are identifiable. These
also represents significant health and safety problem which is why prevention should be
reinforced and literacy on why and how should these problems be prevented are very important.

References:

Hoffman, G.J., Hays, R.D., Shapiro, M.F., Wallace, S.P., Susan, E.L. (2017). The Costs of Fall-
Related Injury among Older Adult: Annual Per-Faller, Service Component, and Patient Out-of
Pocket Costs. Health Research Education Trust, pp. 1794-1816.

Rubenstein, L.Z. (2006). Fall in older people: epidemiology, risk factors and Strategies for
prevention. Age and Aging, pp ii37-ii41.

Verma, S.K., Willets, J.L., Corns, H.L., Wellman, H.R.C., Lombardi, D.A., Courtney, T.K.
(2016). Falls and Fall-Related Injury among Community-Dwelling Adults in the United States.
Plos One, pp 1-14.