Therefore, it is no surprise that the fear of falling can be overwhelming for the elderly. Suffering a fall can lead to high levels of anxiety. In fact, over 70 percent of people over the age of 60 who have fallen are afraid that they will fall again. Of note, fear of falling also affects older people who have never experienced a fall.
When you are afraid of falling you tend to limit your physical activity. Initially that strategy works, but eventually, reduced activity leads to a loss of muscle strength, endurance, and mobility, making you more vulnerable to falling. Worrying about falling affects gait patterns in older people. For example, it slows down their walking speed and they tend to look for support while walking, grabbing onto others or onto furniture.
Researchers have found that being afraid of falling directly affects your balance. When older people are in circumstances that threaten their balance, such as slopes, uneven surfaces, wet floors, steps, and cracks in the sidewalk, they try to protect themselves by tightening their muscles. Unfortunately, this “freezing” strategy actually increases the risk of falling because it prevents the body from functioning as it is supposed to. For example, it decreases awareness of the surroundings, the muscles cannot contract and relax as they normally do during movement, and the person cannot properly think because they are in a panicked mental state.
A physiotherapist can prescribe certain exercises that will target your physical limitations (strength, balance, etc..) that contribute to your risk of falling. The goal is to help restore your self-confidence by improving these limitations using specific and individualized exercises.
Being afraid of falling increases your risk of falling even if you have never fallen before. It is important to keep moving to maintain your physical abilities. Good physical abilities increase your self-confidence and in turn reduce your fear (and actual risk) of falling
YES WE DO. We bring all the required tools with us.
YES, WE DO. We have a computerized system for record keeping, and we provide all the necessary documents.
YES, THEY DO. All our therapists are licenced with the OPPQ and keep up to date with continuing education courses.
YES, THEY ARE. We have reasonable fees to make it possible for more people to have access to our services.
DEPENDS ON YOUR EVALUATION. Once your evaluation is completed we will create a treatment plan that is unique to your situation.
