Having access to a computer, the Internet and e-mail is sometimes a curse, but sometimes it is a revelation.
Last week I got one of those 20-question surveys to fill out, copy and paste and send on to my list of favorite people. Most of the questions were on inane topics such as favorite dessert, favorite color and favorite movie star.
One question, however, asked, “What are you most afraid of?” The one-word response from the majority of people was “falling,” and I was quite surprised. I knew it was my No. 1 fear, but didn’t realize there were so many who felt the same way.
We’re not as afraid of being mugged or having our house broken into as we are of falling. It’s embarrassing, it’s painful and it can be very dangerous.
Especially, as we get older, we fear falling. And for good reason. Whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not, we really are less steady on our feet, our responses are truly slower and we can do a lot more damage to older bones than those soft, pliable younger ones.
For some of us, it takes a long time to admit that we’re not the basketball players we once were and that gliding across the dance floor (especially one of those slippery floors) could result in a fall. Even walking to the refrigerator or stepping outside the door can produce a bad fall.
When I think of the 3-inch, high-heeled shoes I used to routinely wear to whatever office I was working in, and the cobblestone sidewalks I had to walk to get to work, it’s frightening. But I was a lot younger then, and had almost no fears at all.
Times change. Today, the fashionable footwear is sneakers or sturdy lace-up shoes I shunned like the plague in my younger years.
I’ve sent a lot of get-well cards this winter to many people who’ve been laid up as the result of a fall. The last couple of weeks in particular have produced a new crop of fall victims.
No, I’m not going to list them all, but for various reasons – dizziness, inattention, wrong footwear or black ice – at least a dozen people I know have taken some bad falls. Some folks ended up on crutches, in the hospital, at the doctor’s office, and just plain sore.
Southern Maine Agency on Aging has a program called Agewell Exercise, which includes exercises for fall prevention. I know several who have taken this program (which is free) and since it is being offered this month right down the road from me, I believe it would behoove me to sign up.
If you are in the area you might want to drop in, also. I am sure these programs are offered in other areas and suggest you contact SMAA, and ask for Anne Murray at (800) 427-7411. She can give you more information.
Meanwhile if you’re in the Windham area, why not check this program out at Unity Gardens Senior Housing, 124 Tandberg Trail, Windham.
Exercises for Fall Prevention will be held on Thursdays from 10:30-11:30 a.m. May 8 and 22, June 5 and 19, July 3, 17 and 31 and August 14 and 28.
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