Niagara Falls. (2024, December 6). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls
The opening paragraph of an online AARP article about falling reads:
A stumble on uneven sidewalk or a trip over a shoelace may result in a scraped knee or a bruise for a small child. But for an older adult, falls can be serious, even deadly.
The article continues to discuss how deadly falls can be for the average senior citizen: The 38,742 fall-related deaths in 2021 (more than 100 per day) is in addition to the millions of major injuries older adults sustain each year from falls.
And this doesn’t begin to include people with Parkinson’s, of any age, who undoubtedly fall even more often. Many of us have freezing gait, blood pressure drops when we stand up from a chair, and slower movement in general. Thus, we fall.
Since my DBS operation about a year ago, I’ve had two falls. The first one I felt wasn’t really my fault, which in retrospect is a stupid and foolish reaction. I was walking up the stairs from our main floor to our second, and I was carrying a spoon in one hand and a bowl of ice cream in the other. I was wearing bedroom slippers which were a size too large for me. Both slippers slipped off my feet on the second-to-last step up, causing me to stumble and fall once I had both feet on the 2nd floor carpet. I felt anyone would have had the same experience if they were wearing slippers that were too big. As I said, this was a stupid rationalization on my part. I remember thinking only this: “At least I didn’t spill the ice cream or get carpet fuzz all over the spoon.”
The second fall, though, was different. My husband and I have been taking daily walks down along the edge of the Hudson River. We usually walk along a paved trail or the paved road. Because the paths and road skirt the river, which is slow-moving and wide, there are no hills to surmount, just the flat, level path. We had almost finished one day and were walking along the equally flat, black-topped parking lot toward our car, when I fell forward. I still don’t know why it occurred, but forward and down I went, landing on both hands and one knee. The knee bled a bit and developed a scab, but my hands for the most part looked fine.
Nonetheless, it shocked and frightened me. Now, when we go for walks, my husband insists that I keep my hands out of my jacket pockets, no matter how cold it is. (I wear gloves on days when the temperature gets close to freezing.)
Nancy Pelosi, who doesn’t have Parkinson’s disease (at least, as far as we know. After all, it was only a few days ago that we learned that Mitch McConnell had polio as a child), fell on some stairs on a trip with colleagues to Europe and cracked her hip bone. She was taken to a US military base in Germany that had a hospital, and had the hip replaced. I don’t think anyone with PD wants that experience.
Fortunately, a quick internet trip to the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s website will give us a lot of information about falls for PWPs and ways to prevent them. Here’s a cut-and-paste step-by-careful-step:
- Create a space you’re familiar with by avoiding new routines and changes at home. Familiarize yourself with furniture and places you can grab on to so everywhere is easily accessible. Caregivers and family members should avoid moving furniture or adding new pieces without letting their loved one know.
- Remove rugs, arrange power cords and add night lights to make it easier to get around the house, particularly at night.
- Avoid multi-tasking while walking. Some people with Parkinson’s find that multi-tasking becomes more difficult with the disease. When walking, avoid talking on the phone or looking for something in your bag.
- Make the bathtub safer by adding mats with a grip or a grab bar. Railings in hallways can also help you move around the house, if it’s in your budget.
- Take your time standing up. If you experience dizziness when standing up or sitting down, talk to your doctor about orthostatic hypotension.
Bonus tip: Talk with your doctor about your fall risk. Your doctor may suggest a walker or cane, or an adjustment in medication, to help reduce your risk.
In our house, we’ve already installed a grab bar in the bathtub and a second railing on the steps to go from first floor to second (see photos below). And in a year or so we hope to sell our house (once we’ve paid off the mortgage) and move farther upstate to a ranch-style house with no stairs, inside or out. I’m done with stairs.
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