By Lawrence Braverman
There’s an epidemic of catastrophic falling going on; it’s a silent epidemic, where the victims don’t gather in outsized crowds in the public square complete with placards and shouted phrases, rather these victims tend to fade and quietly are seen no more.
They’ve been raced to emergency rooms with a broken pelvis or hip fracture in terrible pain and are eventually released to a world of walkers, wheelchairs & often been moved to assisted living facilities. Then their overall health declines markedly; depression and even cognitive problems set in.
According to the CDC:
* “Each year over 300,000 older people—those 65 and older—are hospitalized for hip fractures.
* More than 95% of hip fractures are caused by falling, usually by falling sideways.
* Women experience three-quarters of all hip fractures.
* Women fall more often than men.”
And a quarter of those people end up in nursing homes; half never recover their previous function; and none of that has to happen; that life-changing catastrophic fall might have been prevented with a simple exercise that takes seconds.
Anecdotally, many of these falls happen late at night, on the way to the bathroom. When people first arise from their beds in the dark, they’re disoriented and unsteady (especially if they’re on medication). As people age, they most often first lose strength in their legs, they’re none too steady anyway and as all boxers know, the first to go are the legs.
The legs are the foundation of all strength in humans; among primates and hominids, human beings have the strongest legs, our powerful legs remain one of the glories of our species and to let them whither away through excessive sitting (“sitting is the new smoking”) is the greatest shame. Personally I recommend T’ai Chi Chuan and, most especially Zhan Zhuang, to gently restore lost strength and agility, but absent that & at the moment of first getting out of that midnight bed my simple exercise:
Just stand there; don’t move. Sink slightly into a Wu Chi posture. Click here for a demonstration.
Your back is straight, your knees slightly bent. Letting go of all tension, allow your weight to sink into your feet and then into the ground. Breathe gently from the belly.
Do this for a minute and be alone with your body that entire minute: put your awareness inside your body and feel your upper body slowly start to empty as your legs become more substantial. You can do this for longer than a minute and gain more benefit thereby as more relaxing, sinking and reorienting take place; a minute would be about the minimum necessary though, to save your life.
Then go ahead and walk to the bathroom; you’ve lowered your chances of falling by a lot. I’m 72 and I’ve had benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) since 1985, and used to fall quite often, but since I’ve been practicing Zhan Zhuang standing, I haven’t fallen once (nor experienced any episodes of vertigo) in years.
I suggest using a different image of “falling.” This image evokes searing memories of September 11, 2001, of victims of the attack jumping from the World Trade Center. I witnessed that in person.
This image is standard for signs that warn about a falling hazard – pre- and post- 9/11
Good point. Changed.
Thank you so much this is valuable advice!
Thank you, Lawrence! I’m not of this age yet, but have balance issues after Covid. Will start using this exercise now.
My dad fell at home this past Saturday night, I was in the next room and too late to catch him. He’s in the hospital with a fractured hip. Stay safe, everyone!
I always hold on to something. Even in my tiny apartment, because my floor is marble. But area rugs and bathroom mats are what most people trip on, or so says my doctor. Outside, the subway steps are steel (!) and deadly, and the floor is often slippery or wet … or filled with trash which is slippery and wet.The sidewalk is cement and hard and dirty. I once walked into a subway car and didn’t see a bottle on the floor, and stepped on it. As I was going down, my theatre training kicked in, and I went down in slow motion doing a theatre fall backwards to land on my rump. The other people were so stunned, they just stood over me proclaiming, “Wow! You did that so gracefully!” It was a few seconds before someone put out a hand to help me up, because they were marveling at how I went down. Thank God I wasn’t hurt and it turned out comedic instead.
Are there classes for T’ai Chi Chuan on the UWS.
Tai chi classes at BeFit on Broadway and 104th twice a week. Lois is a wonderful instructor.
Today, saw ad on building that will become Key Foods on B’way between 88th and 89th. Has tear-off contact info. Also,Senior Planet Zoom Tai Chi
at noon on Fridays. Cas also teaches Morning Stretch M – F, 10:00, variety of beneficial exercises. https://seniorplanet.org
This is a very useful piece of information. Thank you for ;publishing it.
Hi Laurence: I suffered from BPPV for three weeks last year but was cured by audiologist Dr. Craig Kasper (https://www.newyorkhearingdoctors.com/balance/bppv-tereatment/) I understand each case is different and that you may have tried everything but, if not, I highly recommend Dr. Kasper!
Thank you Nina for your referral. After many decades of spin, my symptoms have receded into the background, but if they ever do come roaring back, I may well give Dr. Kasper a call.
Thank you Lawrence for this valuable info. As a veteran of 2 falls, I might add the importance of walking with heel touching ground first. You greatly diminish chances of a toe catching, for example, a sidewalk crack.
Thank you for commenting.
You can take this a STEP further as well, if you chose to; if one keeps practicing this, keeping one’s internal gaze inside of our bodies, especially the feet where they make contact with the ground, purposefully dropping our full weight into the earth as one does in this short meditation, we will almost inevitably improve our awareness of our bodies not only at rest but also the perception of it as it’s moving through space (proprioception) and you’ll not only purposefully put your heel down first, you can also become conscious of and even emphasize gripping the ground with your toes as you push off forcefully from the ground using the toes as well.
Doing this will improve the ABC’s proprioception: Agility, Balance and Coordination.
Most people (from personal observation) walk unconsciously, staggering along asleep at the wheel as it were, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Becoming more conscious of what we do in the moment with our bodies allows us more agency with our own lives, more control even in so apparently simple a matter as walking… that’s another reason that chances for accidents will inevitably diminish with this practice.
Of course, this very simple practice is only the beginning of what is possible.
Very good advice. Also, do sit-squats against a wall, if needed, until your legs shake.
There is a wonderful program at the JCC on 76 Street and Amsterdam Avenue, FallStop MOVE STRONG, which teaches fall prevention and strengthens the body altogether.
I have been taking it for years. It prepared me for two back surgeries in the past year. I just returned and am at the same level as when I left.
I’m not even elderly yet, but when I wake up needing to go, it’s an immediate need. Waiting a minute or more would be problematic.
Here are more exercises, following the bent knee and ankle principle:
https://www.fallingbalanceexercise.com/
That link is an ad for a book you wrote, Mr. Locker?
For nightime awakening, please get a light that turns on with a voice command. You might also consider going to bed wearing those mini-socks with rubber traction on the bottom. Also, be wary of chairs without arms. If you doze off in an armless chair, you are likely to fall off the chair like a sack of potatoes. I did–and broke my collarbone.
Damn!
I mean OUCH!
I am presently in Bali doing a week long TaiChi Qi Gong retreat. I am moving to the UWS end February and would very much like a name or email address or website with more info about Tai Chi classes on the UWS.
manhattanschool@wanadoo.fr