Accidental Injury And The Elderly
How common is it for the elderly to be accidentally injured?
It's a big concern. Between the ages of one and three you will fall a lot, but you have a low center of gravity, so you don't usually get hurt. As you get older, maybe around the ages of 55, 65, 75, or 85, your chance of falling increases exponentially. This time, you're at a much bigger risk of breaking a hip, breaking a wrist, or having a spinal fracture. It's much more dangerous if you fall if you're older, so falling is a big issue in geriatrics that we're concerned with. And we have fall prevention programs. There's one here at the Jewish Home, and there are many in Los Angeles. There are many across the country where we train people how to improve their balance and to avoid falling. One critical issue is to fall proof your house and your apartment. Sometimes people trip over rugs that are loose, water on the floor, bathrooms that don't have grab bars, or lots of things you could do to fall proof your home to avoid falling and having a serious accident.
Why are the elderly more susceptible to accidental injury?
As you get older, your risk of having a fall increases because you have more and more troubles with balance or disequilibrium. When you're 20 years old, you can walk that fine line without any problem. When you're 65, 75, 85, it's harder and harder to walk that tiny line to maintain your balance. Your gait starts to move a little bit wider. If you watch people after age 80 or 85 they're often touching things with their hands as they walk through a restaurant to maintain their balance. That is a generalized problem with aging and balance, and this occurs with almost everybody.
Does my socioeconomic status have any impact on the types of diseases I will develop?
Perhaps the best determinant of the diseases you're going to have in later life is your educational level, and your socioeconomic status. Those are the two biggest factors by far.
Why does my socioeconomic status have an impact on my health?
We speculate that not being well educated means that we're not well educated on health, and therefore don't seek out the right medical care. Socioeconomic status and its relationship to health is probably because we don't see doctors, many of us can't afford the therapies, we don't have insurance, and that may lead to poor health.
Is my body's ability to heal impaired by aging?
The body heals more slowly. That means if I have an injury such as a sports injury; that would heal in three or four days when you were nineteen or twenty, but it may take a week or two to heal if you're fifty or sixty. So the ability of the body to respond to damage or injury is much impaired with aging.
