When you fall down as a Child, you generally bounce right back up and continue playing. When you fall down as an adult, there’s a good chance you’ll do anything but bounce. In fact, you might even break.
Every 18 seconds in this country, an older adult shows up in a hospital emergency room due to injuries from a fall, according to statistics from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And every 35 minutes, one of those people dies from their injuries.
When older individuals survive a serious fall, they often face months of painful recovery time. Head injuries, hip injuries, broken bones all take their toll.
As you get older, fear of falling becomes ever more daunting. Once you’ve experienced a fall that’s caused serious injury or dealt with a painful, scary knee scraping, it tends to alter your way of life ever after. Instead of heading out the door in the morning to walk the dog, for example, you open the back door and let the pooch do his business in the yard. And what about those sexy new pumps versus the sensible shoes with treads? Before choosing your footwear for the day, you check the outdoor temperature to scope out the possibility of black ice on the driveway.
Along with all the sensible accident-preventing precautions you’ve undoubtedly already put in place, is there anything else you can do to protect yourself?
For one thing, you might consider taking up tai chi. Several studies have shown that this gentle form of Oriental exercise helps improve balance and coordination to the point where it decreases the risk of falling. If it’s an elderly relative you’re concerned about, consider a series of tai chi lessons as a gift.
And, yes, nutrition can play a significant role in protecting you from falling.
A number of studies have pointed to a couple of individual nutrients as helpful in preventing falls, and vitamin D seems to be the star performer. But first it’s worth noting that one small 2007 Australian study conducted with residents of nursing homes showed that taking a multivitamin was associated with fewer falls.
Many of the medical experts interviewed for this book have recommended taking a multivitamin for a variety of conditions and in order to assure that you get all of the essential nutrients that may be missing from your daily diet. So there are lots of good reasons to add a multi to your daily regime.
Here are the other nutrients that deserve special attention as well.
Several studies point to calcium or a combination of calcium and vitamin D supplements as helpful in providing protection from falling. A 2008 German study, for example, showed that calcium combined with vitamin D improved muscle strength and lessened the incidence of falling in elderly people. Researchers used 1,000 milligrams of calcium in the study, an amount in keeping with current government guidelines.
Numerous studies over the years have shown that vitamin D offers some protection against falling. And in 2004, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a meta-analysis, selecting only the best-quality studies looking at vitamin D and the risk of falling. The analysis, done by Harvard Medical School’s Heike Bischoff-Ferrari, MPH, MD, and colleagues, found that when all of the studies were pooled, there was a “statistically significant 22 percent reduction in the risk of falling with vitamin D treatment” compared to those taking just calcium or a placebo.
In fact, elderly people often don’t get enough vitamin D, says Joseph Vande Griend, DPharm, who recently completed a study looking at vitamin D consumption in elderly people and is assistant professor in the department of clinical pharmacy at the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy in Denver.
At the Senior Clinic at the University of Colorado, says Dr. Vande Griend, elderly people are routinely tested for blood levels of vitamin D specifically as a measure to help prevent falls.
Why would something like vitamin D help protect against falls? Muscle cells all have receptors for vitamin D, he explains. You need sufficient vitamin D and calcium in order for muscles to function properly.
How much vitamin D does an elderly person need to achieve a measure of protection against falls? Clinical trials are currently under way to get at that number, says Dr. Vande Griend. The trials range from 800 to 4,400 IU, with most in the neighborhood of 1,400 IU daily. However, he says, it’s a good idea to discuss this vitamin with your doctor and have a blood test to measure your vitamin D levels. If you are depleted of this important vitamin, your doctor may suggest much higher levels of the vitamin for a short period of time.
Note that doctors often recommend calcium and vitamin D supplements to prevent osteoporosis, a disease that causes fragile, fracture-prone bones. Keeping osteoporosis at bay can help protect you from broken bones in the event that you do take a spill. For the full picture on preventing osteoporosis.
If you experience frequent falls or if fear of falling is affecting your quality of life, make sure you let your doctor know. Consider taking a multivitamin to make sure that you’re getting all of the nutrients that you need.
Calcium |
1,000 milligrams |
Vitamin D* |
1,000 to 2,000 IU |
*Discuss appropriate levels of vitamin D supplementation with your doctor. If a blood test shows that your levels of vitamin D are low, your doctor may suggest taking supplements in much higher amounts for a short period of time.