Most seniors know a number of things they can do to improve their wellbeing. Having a healthy diet, taking exercise and quitting smoking are all great ideas to boost an elderly person’s health and combat conditions like heart disease.

But there is another step that might not be so well known, and it’s all about reducing the risks of another significant danger to older people – falls. In fact, falls in the elderly are a major concern among health professionals, so it’s important to do all you can to prevent them.

That’s why seniors need to carefully check their homes for hazards that might raise the chances of a fall. This simple measure doesn’t need to be expensive or time-consuming, but it could make a huge difference to an older person’s health in the future.

Read on to learn about what you could do to identify and address potential fall risks in your home.

Thinking about falls

What causes an older person to fall? It’s not a simple question with a single answer. Certainly, physical factors and medical conditions play a role. Behaviour like rushing to the bathroom can also increase the risk of a fall.

Moreover, there are numerous aspects of their environment that can cause falls in different ways. To better spot fall risks when you look at a room, it can help to group falls into different types. Below, we’ll discuss different types of falls and how the risks of each can be addressed.

Tripping falls

These occur when an object is on the floor that catches on a person’s foot. They could be caused by loose rugs, electric cords or clutter on the floor. In an older person’s house, it’s really important that floors are clear, so make sure all loose rugs are removed or pinned down so they can’t curl up. You’ll also want to move objects with dangling cords out of the way.

Slipping falls

This is when a person’s foot slips on a sliding object or a slick floor. It can also be caused by a rug, such as a bathmat that slips on a tile floor. But the main example here is wet hard floors, whether that’s water from a shower in the bathroom or rainwater in an entrance hall.

To address this risk, ensure that rugs and bathmats have non-slip backs. Install grab bars over bathtubs or consider replacing a tub with a walk-in shower.

Toppling falls

These aren’t caused by objects in the way, but rather by a person overbalancing or losing their balance.

For this type of fall, you don’t look at the floor to see the danger. Look to see places where an older person will have to reach uncomfortably to get something or step awkwardly to get somewhere. Examples include objects on high shelves or shampoo bottles on the floor of a shower.

This type of fall could also happen when furniture or obstacles are placed in such a way that a person has to step oddly in order to get around them. You want to ensure that all paths through the home can be walked through with ordinary, comfortable steps.

Vision falls

As the name suggests, these are caused by the person not being able to see where they are going. The big change here for your home is lighting. Ensure no areas of your home are shadowy and difficult to navigate through in the evening. Most of all, any steps, indoor and outdoor, should be well-lit. You might also want to install motion-sensor lights if an older person gets up at night.

Change of position falls

This type of fall happens when a person goes from lying down to standing or standing to sitting in a bathtub. Those types of transitions can be tricky for older people with reduced mobility.

Here, you’ll want grab bars by the toilet as well, so an elderly person can use them for support while standing up or sitting down. The measures we’ve discussed earlier for preventing slips in the bathroom can also help with the risks of getting in and out of the bath. You can even buy portable rails to put next to a bed or chair to offer a stable point to lean on in the process of standing, sitting or lying down.

Falls on stairs

Stairs are a significant enough element in falls that it’s worth considering them all on their own. Nothing should be loose or scattered on stairs. They should have sturdy handrails on both sides, and you can even mark the edge of the stairs with reflective tape to make them more visible. As we’ve mentioned, lighting around stairs is also crucial.

Loose fixture falls

Sometimes aspects of the home that are meant to support us can actually be loose or wobbly, resulting in a fall. This fall could happen if a handrail or grab bar is loose, or if a step in an outdoor staircase is wobbly. You’ll want to make sure that nothing in the house is loose or shaky if it’s meant to be steady and firm.

Dementia falls

Falls due to dementia are a complex issue that could take up an entire article on their own. In this one, we’ll just say that dementia can come with changes in movement and changes in how a person perceives the world. For example, a person with dementia might see a dark-coloured rug as a hole in the floor. Patterns on the floor can also be confusing to a person with dementia. To learn more, see the NHS resource on making a home dementia-friendly.

Protection from SureSafe if a fall does happen

Although these steps can do a lot to reduce the risk of falls in your home, they can’t eliminate the risk completely. That’s why it’s also important to have a plan in place for what happens if someone does fall.

A personal alarm for the elderly is there to provide an older person with a way of getting help if they fall while no-one is around. A one-touch button makes calling for help super simple, while fall detection functionality can call for help automatically if the device senses a fall.

SureSafe’s highly reviewed alarms have these functions and more to help keep you or an older loved one safe. If you’d like to learn more, give us a call on 0808 189 1671. You can also speak to us via live chat or request a call back.