Facts About Bathroom Falls And Injuries Among The Elderly

Fact #1

Statistics say that nearly one-third of the senior citizens tend to slip and fall in the bathroom at least once a year. If you have elderly people at home (over the age of 65), be careful!

Fact #2

Out of overall incidents, 65% of the falls generally result in minor injuries like bruises, but the rest of the cases are more serious!

Fact #3

Most of the serious cases are generally emergency cases. A slippery bathroom is hazardous! Sometimes, a simple fall could lead to a life-threatening situation.

Fact #4

Cuts, scrapes, bruises, broken bones, spinal cord injuries, fractures and even death could occur in the serious cases.

Fact #5

Generally, when do bathroom-slips occur? They mainly happen when the person is getting out of the tub, sitting on the toilet seat, trying to reach the towel stand or simply walking on the slippery surface.

Fact #7

Why do they occur more in old age? Well, even young people do slip and fall in bathrooms occasionally. But when old people fall, the impact is more due to fragile bones and poor control over the body.

Also, the incidents are more in old people as co-ordination abilities and muscle strength gets reduced with age.

Fact #7

Some simple ways to prevent such incidents include helping old people if possible, keeping the lights on before elderly people use the toilet, keeping door mats on the floor of the bathroom, keeping the bathroom floor dry and getting handles installed on the walls. This way it is better to minimise the risk.