Fall Prevention:
Individuals with more life experience should not be faced with giving up activities they love. Whether it is taking a stroll around the neighborhood, playing with the grandkids, jumping up to yell BINGO, or dancing like nobody is watching; maintaining your strength, balance, and overall well-being plays a crucial role in maintaining your independence.
For many aging adults, falls can become a frequent and recurring concern, impacting our daily lives. However, with the correct approach and supportive team, many of these falls can be prevented. Physical therapy for fall prevention puts an emphasis on improving your balance, strength, coordination, spatial awareness, and overall confidence to continue participating in the activities you love and enjoy.
Why is Fall Prevention important?
“More than one in four people age 65 years or older fall each year.”1 One single fall could result in a variety of injuries, reduced mobility, and increase our fear of falling again. Due to this increased fear of falling, our tendency is to become more sedentary which in turns makes our muscles weaker and further increasing our risk of repeated falls.
How is physical therapy beneficial?
With physical therapy, a licensed physical therapist can perform a comprehensive fall risk assessment, that includes evaluation of your balance, strength, proprioception, and gait mechanics. Based off your evaluation, a multi-dimensional treatment plan will be put in place to improve upon your noted deficits, but one thing of importance, falls are NOT part of your treatment plan. Your treatment plan that is implemented by your physical therapist may include:
Balance training
- Our balance consists of 3 different systems that are involved: 1-vision, 2-proprioception (your awareness of your body in space), and 3-vestibular (your internal leveler).
- During your evaluation, your therapist can utilize different test and measures to determine which system is mainly affecting your balance.
Balance exercises can assist in your body being able to respond to different changes in positions and surfaces such as walking, turning, and reaching outside your base of support.
Strength training
- Having muscular strength is very crucial in your safety with movements.
Strength around your core, hips, knees, and ankles will help improve your capability to maintain good balance when you are going up and down stairs, walking on uneven surfaces, or standing and putting the plates away into the cabinets.
Gait/Mobility training
- During your evaluation, the therapist may have you walk as you normally would to assess how your gait.
Based off this assessment, your plan may entail exercises to assist with foot clearance, keeping your knee straight when you put weight on it, and widening base of support to facilitate safe ambulation in your home and within the community.
Flexibility/ROM
- Joint mobility and flexibility is also essential in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
The easier your joints move, especially in your legs and pelvis, allows for easier performance of your daily activities.
Fall prevention strategies
- Ankle strategies- swaying at the ankle joint in reaction to direction loss of balance occurs.
- Hip strategies- swaying at the hip joint opposite of the direction loss of balance occurs.
- Stepping strategies- taking a step to regain balance in same direction loss of balance occurs.
- Education and safety strategies
Your therapist can provide educated guidance on potential assistive devices, home modifications, and proper sequencing of transfers to improve safety both at home and in the community.
Stay active and confident:
With a specific and personalized treatment plan, proper education, and support, falls do not have to be a normal part of our aging process. Whatever your own personal goals are, your treatment plan will be focused on treating impairments to assist in overcoming challenges and barriers from you achieving your goals. Even if you haven’t had a fall, physical therapy can still be very beneficial for you, utilizing a proactive treatment plan to prevent any falls from happening in the future. If you or a loved one is concerned about balance, recurring falls, or improving overall health and quality of life, we can help you take the next steps towards a better life.
Request an appointment today!
References
National Institute on Aging. Falls and Fractures in Older Adults: Causes and Prevention; 2022. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/falls-and-falls-prevention/falls-and-fractures-older-adults-causes-and-prevention (accessed 2026-07-23).
