What Can Your Senior Do to Avoid Falls?

Falls are a much bigger issue for your senior the older she gets. As your elderly family member ages, it’s ever more crucial for her to accurately and fully assess her fall risk and do everything that she can to avoid the possibility of sustaining a fall. Here is information that can help her to avoid a fall, and how senior home care can support her safety at home.

Talk with Her Doctor

The first step for your senior is to talk with her doctor. Your elderly family member needs to fully understand all of her risk factors as well as any complications that may contribute to falling. Her doctor can help her to put the beginnings of a fall-prevention plan in place.

Exercise, if Her Doctor Agrees

One of the major factors that your senior’s doctor may suggest is that your senior should start exercising. Exercise that builds her strength, improves her balance, and helps her to be more flexible can be hugely helpful when it comes to avoiding a fall. The major key for your senior is to find exercise that she enjoys doing so that she wants to stick with it.

Keep up with Other Screening Tests

Your senior may need to visit other specialists besides her primary care physician. Getting her hearing and vision checked, for example, can help to find other possible issues that could contribute to a fall. Understanding what else your senior is battling helps you to put additional safety steps in place to help her remain safe.

Prioritize Home Safety

Home safety is another vital step for your senior. If she hasn’t already, she needs to look at spaces where she can install grab bars, remove any tripping hazards, and overall be willing to make other changes that could prevent a fall. Making changes in her home may feel like something she wants to avoid, but it’s not negotiable if she’s going to stay safe.

Wear Sturdy Shoes at Home

Shoes may seem like an odd safety requirement for your senior at home, but they’re worth looking at more closely. If your elderly family member is in the habit of being barefoot or wearing only socks, that can cause some safety issues for her when it comes to falls. Sturdy shoes with a non-slip sole are a much better option, but they can take some getting used to if your aging family member isn’t accustomed to wearing shoes at home.

Accept Help from Senior Home Care

If your elderly family member has always been fiercely independent, then accepting help from home care providers may feel impossible to her. But the truth is that senior home care can do a lot to ensure that your senior is as safe as possible. They can help her with daily activities and they can also be on the lookout for serious safety concerns that need to be corrected.

Helping your senior to avoid a fall involves looking at a wide range of possible factors that could contribute to a fall. When you and your aging family member are as thorough as possible about this, it’s going to pay off for her.