What are the Risks for Falling and What Causes a Fall?
Factors that increase the risk for falling • Muscle weakness around the hip joint • Increased unsteadiness when on the feet • Intake of more than 3 medicationsCauses of falling • Loss of footing: Loss of footing means a loss of contact between a foot and the ground. Footing can be easily lost if people use things for purposes other than what is intended, for example, using a kitchen chair as a ladder or stool. • Loss of traction: Loss of traction occurs when the surface is wet or slick and a person slips or when the ground is uneven and a person trips. • Vision problems: Usually, wearing glasses can correct vision problems that develop with age. However, these glasses are often bifocals, which have one level of vision correction at the top of the glasses’ lens (for looking far away) and another level at the bottom of the lens (for looking close up). This means that the vision is distorted when looking down at the feet through the bottom of the glasses’ lens, making it easy to lose bala
