Low impact step exercises are great for building strength and improving balance.
You can buy a wood box on Amazon or make one yourself.
Younger people jump onto the box. That’s high impact and hurts the joints. Its also a fall hazard.
I’ve done a low impact exercise for most of my life.
I have had a few close calls like that with my dogs. I have learned to lighten my grip on the leash, even with an extendable one, when starting down a steep/rocky path. With four legs they can usually descend a lot faster than me so I try to be prepared to let go of the leash without much notice.
Almost always. Risks and costs exist in trade offs to benefits and the reverse.
I’ve mentioned above that my most recent fall was out on a relatively long run with the dogs. Not because of the dogs, just an uneven bit sidewalk sticking up and not getting my stride high enough while lost in thought (which is a pleasures of a slow long run). If I want to reduce my fall risk I shouldn’t run. (Or bike.) But clearly the benefits of going on runs exceed the risks.
@LSLGuy is correct that pets are a fall risk and fall risk can reduced by not having them. But at the cost of losing major, more than offsetting, benefits associated with pet companionship. Taking dogs for walks is a risk, even just from slipping on a pebble, let alone a dog pulling you off balance or tangling you up. Taking dogs for walks is of benefits …. The data suggests the benefits are greater than the risks is all.
I’d like to never fall but I know that falls are almost certain to happen as a price of engaging in the variety of activities that are my life and that have benefits.
So I should also be able to handle falling. I can’t live in fear of it. I should try to fall in ways that cause the least harms (protect brain!), and have a body that can withstand a fall as a consequence of not being too afraid to do things in order to prevent them.
My Dad was an Airborne Ranger and taught his kids how to fall. He made us practice it, and I think that is key, because I do remember how hard it was to overcome the instinct to put my hands straight in front of me instead of crossing them on my chest. It’s a lot like learning to dive, if you remember that, and how your body overrides your intent the first few times, making you just jump in feet first with your head tucked. You have to force the body to allow itself to go in head first.
Anything that increases proprioception will help prevent falls. For older people I think yoga is the best choice. Tai chi is a close second, but AFAIK it is always in an upright posture. I think the upside down and prone yoga postures are really beneficial in helping the brain know what to do when the world tips sideways.
Well I started out down a gravel road
Started out with my dog
And my foot went wrong and I took a spill
And my arm lit up, my screams got shrill
I’m learning to fall, cuz I ain’t got wings
Falling down is the hardest thing
Well, the good ol’ days may not return
And my arm don’t work and my hand does burn
I’m learning to fall (learning to fall) cuz I ain’t got wings (learning to fall)
Falling down (learning to fall) is the hardest thing (learning to fall)
Well, that damn fall sure broke my arm
Jammed my ribs, did me harm
So I just sit around in my easy chair
It hurts to change my underwear
I’m learning to fall, to spare my crown
Since what goes up (learning to fall) must come down
I’m learning to fall (learning to fall), cuz I ain’t got wings
Falling down is the dumbest thing
I’m learning to fall (learning to fall), to ease the pain
But when I’m up (learning to fall) I crash again
I’m learning to fall . . .
You’re not helping.
But well done.
My dad usually walked fine. Once in awhile his inner ear messed up and he got dizzy. Thankfully he never broke anything. The bruises were bad.
He was on meds, but it never eliminated the problem.
Chemo caused my balance - not the best, anyhow - to get worse due to neuropathy. After 2 falls I bought a cane.
Gosh, that sounds like a title for a prog rock album or an existential novel… or TS Eliot…?
I like to have a bed that I own… but travelling has its stimulation, it must be said.
Yeah, the other factor to think about is: as you get older, your risk of falls and trips increases - falling over is something that people just seem to do more as they get older (actually it’s probably an inverted bell curve across a whole lifetime because young kids do it too).
Part of the reason that training oneself to fall safely might not work, is linked to the some of the reasons why we fall over more as we get older - reflexes don’t work like once they did - I feel like learning to fall safely is just going to result in lying on the floor after falling, realising what you should have done.
I took karate lessons when I was a teen. I think the only things from it I still actually retain are how to not fall, and how to fall.
I stopped doing jujutsu when my reflexes slowed to the point that my arm beat consistently landed about 2 seconds after my head bounced off the mat…
My instructor, who was really pretty good in a style that emphasized throws (and thus falls) was chagrined and embarrassed when he, like a poster above, slipped on ice and landed badly, with no time to respond properly.
Sure. That’s why it is multi pronged. Prevent with reasonable risk reduction and doing exercise that works on balance. Try to fall well if possible first and foremost protecting your brain. Exercise regularly including strength training so you have the strong ligaments and bones and muscle mass to reduce the risk of serious injury when you fall anyway.
It was comical, humorous today. Me, pulling up a giant rooted weed in my “garden” today, can I even call it that… an area that dhould be groundcover mulch. But anyway, I heaved Ho trying to uproot this weed, put my back and considerable weight into it. With great dramaticism, the root stayed, but the veg dropped me on my ass. I tried to grab the concrete garden goose, but it came down with me. I was kit and kaboodle down and trying to get up, can’t doo it anymore. I dug my foot in on the concrete turtle and used the toppled goose’s neck to summon uprightness.i ended up pulling all the weeds in my garden and uprighting and rearranging monuments with muddy toes in my garden.
Having more than my fair share of trips / rolled ankles: yeah, footwear choice is important. I have a closet with about 8 or so pairs of dress shoes - enough to last me literally the rest of my life, as I go literally years between wearing any of them.
I’m handicapped, shoe-wise, by having a nearly impossible shoe size (just visited a well known store in NJ last week and bought 5 pairs, because they HAD MY SIZE). I guess this is good - cute (i.e. dangerous) shoes are nearly impossible t o find, so I’m stuck with sensible ones.
Good to know that barefoot is acceptable. Not that this is entirely a fall preventative for me - several broken bones have occurred when my body has forgotten where it is in space. I actually have a prescription for some PT sessions for gait training, but I need to get an updated scrip (this was last year, when I broke my foot), as many of my injuries have been linked to rolling my ankle at a bad spot.
For me, shoes are more dangerous, around the house, than barefoot, because of the ankle rolling issue. I still claim this, even though the bones broken at home have been while barefoot. One was a proprioceptive issue (stairs), another was my own damn fault (stood up carelessly when I’d been sitting funny and my foot fell asleep), and the third was because someone had left a box of detergent on the floor between the washer and dryer, and it migrated outward, and I slammed my foot into it - which is a reminder that OTHER obstacles need to be minimized,
Rolled ankles have led to numerous falls over the years - so far, most have not involved any injuries but there was one time where I smacked my face against the edge of a doorframe, and the other time where I literally somersaulted down some stairs at a hotel. Both times, shoes were at play. I need to dig up my Five Fingers shoes, as those actually provide a pretty good compromise: they protect my soles from minor hazards (useless against encounters with, say, rocks or falling objects), and let me have enough sense of the foot / floor interface that the ankle doesn’t roll.
Other fall prevention things I pay close attention to: Stair rails. If I have to walk down stairs which don’t have a rail, I’m terrified. Luckily, this is very rare. And moving to a house that is all one level is definitely in our plans.
My in-laws have had numerous falls. Not sure what has led to a lot of FIL’s falls; on at least one occasion he mumbled something about falling while putting his pants on - something the man should NOT have been attempting without sitting down (let’s not discuss that I always do so while standing, as it’s frankly easier…). He’s no longer at risk of that, of course, having passed away 2 months ago.
MIL has also fallen a few times. She doesn’t always tell us, but now that she’s in assisted living we get reports - and they are working with her on fall-prevention skills - e.g. get the walker by the bed and use that to help stand up, do NOT struggle to your feet and lean over to get it.
Oh - and another thing to be aware of: having something nearby that you can use to pull yourself up, if you DO wind up on the ground. When the in-laws were moving into their condo, I went down for the week to help out, and at one point FIL hollered for me. He was on the floor in one of the (empty) bedrooms, and needed help getting up. I’m not sure how he wound up on the floor; he claimed it was not a fall, but that he’d gotten down to do something. Anyway, I basically leaned over at the waist, propped my arm against the wall, and let him use me to haul himself up.
More recently: I’ve got bad knees. Not a problem with mobility most of the time… but we were swimming in the ocean. I got knocked down by a wave, and I was in water too shallow to float myself back to my feet, and nothing to help me stand up - so I literally crawled to shallow water. Then I tried to stand, and my knees said “HELL NO”. A stranger offered me a hand, and I started to stand, but the knee that had been misbehaving gave out, and I collapsed, basically crushing the OTHER knee as I fell - which meant NEITHER one was working. It took several minutes, and was embarassing and frightening. I could have easily hauled myself up if I’d had a chair or something, but of course most people do not take chairs into the ocean 
. I’m now genuinely afraid to go swimming in the ocean, something I’ve loved all my life.
Yoga socks with grippy soles are a decent halfway footwear for being at home. They give a good grip on slippery surfaces, but don’t provide any protection for stepping on something small and sharp that makes you instinctively recoil & perhaps fall. I use these, but they were picked more or less at random when I was first shopping for grip socks:
I wear them around the house from when I get up until I get clean & dressed. Which is anything from 1 to 8 hours. A three-pak of these last about 2 years before they get ratty.
I’ve stepped on pebbles, dried beans, peppercorns, sharp little crumbs, and such in the kitchen which are surprising & can sting, but not enough to trip me up.
They also keep your feet warmer, which can encourage circulation if you’ve got issues with that. Plus, being elastic fabric they come in whatever (mis-)shape and (mis-)size your aging feet currently are.
They sound like the socks they gave me before surgery. I took them with me because I couldn’t bend enough to take them off. They’re a hideous yellow but they do keep me from slipping.
I’ve been given these pretty much any time I have anything done, and you’re EXPECTED to take them home. Once, I did not need them at all - I think one foot was still in a surgical boot from one of those broken bones I mentioned, and I just left the other shoe on (this was for a colonoscopy, where you have to walk down the hall to the procedure room). I tried handing the still-wrapped package back to a nurse and she said to keep them anyway.
I’ll have to check out those yoga socks.
The Vibram shoes are hard to put on, since the toes don’t always want to go in the right spots - it gets better with practice. When I got my first pair, my daughter was humiliated to be seen in public with me, which was an unexpected added feature 
.
I think they do offer a bit more protection against small pebbles etc, at least when stepping on them, but I recall an anecdote of someone running while wearing them and breaking a toe against an unexpected rock.
Same basic idea; the hospital socks are nonslip too.
But despite the fact you (or your insurer) paid $50 for them, they’re flimsy one-time-use crap. Real yoga sox (and there are dozens of brands) are much stouter, grippier, and long-lasting. They also tend to have better strapping cross the upper, or up the ankle a bit so you don’t pull out of them while moving. Hospital sox are for you to get from bed to toilet & back, or maybe take an unsteady hike around the ward once or twice. Yoga sox are for exercising vigorously in and for holding oddball poses needing real balance and real traction. I’m no yoga-nut, but their sox are a great invention.