MUST-READ LIFESAVING ADVICE FOR ELDERLY
CARRYING heavy shopping, gardening and Chinese tai chi can all help prevent pensioners falling, according to a charity researching later life.
Household chores and dance classes also improve the strength and balance needed to live independently for as long as possible, says the Centre for Ageing Better.
Four in 10 over-70s underestimate how important strong muscles and a stable posture are in the reduction of falls, it says.
Falls caused 57,712 hip fractures in England in the year to April 2015.
And victims of falls take up more than four million hospital bed days every year.
The charity says improving strength and balance is crucial in reducing risk and helping people live independently as they age.
Yesterday Louise Ansari, the charity’s programme director for physical activity, said: “It is a sad state of affairs that there are more than 250,000 emergency admissions of older people to hospital for falls every year.
Digging
“So many of these falls and fractures could be prevented by simple exercises that improve people’s strength and balance.
“People can improve this strength and balance by doing more activities such as carrying shopping and doing the gardening as well as exercise such as dance and tai chi.
“The NHS and local authorities can help to prevent falls by commissioning evidence-based services that improve strength and balance and make them available.”
Of the pensioners surveyed for the charity, 93 per cent said it was important for someone their age to do strength and balance exercises or activities twice a week.
But 35 per cent did not realise that heavy gardening jobs such as digging counted.
Nearly half (46 per cent) did not know that carrying heavy loads such as groceries helped.
However, 95 per cent believed walking was a helpful activity. In fact, moderate or slow walking does not improve strength or balance despite it being good for general health.
The survey comes as health and care officials publish a Falls and Fracture Consensus Statement outlining actions that the health, care and housing sectors can take.
Recommendations include exercise that improves strength and balance and reducing hazards in the home.
Professor Kevin Fenton of Public Health England said: “This statement and advice on preventing falls and injuries will be invaluable for those working with older people.
“Falls can pose a very serious health issue for older people and often lead to a loss of confidence and independence.
“Each year, around a third of people aged 65 and over and half of those aged 80 and over experience a fall.
“It’s vital that as people get older, they get the support to stay healthy and maintain their strength and balance through being physically active.”