What is the relationship between fall prevention and mobility maintenance?

To put it simply, the two are in a symbiotic relationship that supports each other - fall prevention is not an "after-the-fact patch" that is applied after a fall. It is the core goal of mobility maintenance itself, and the best solution to reduce the risk of falls from the root is to maintain mobility throughout the cycle.

I have been a home care guide for the elderly in the community for three years. When I first entered the industry, I thought that the relationship between the two was "one behind the other": first, you should take care of your legs and feet so that they won't fall. After you fall, you can just take care of them. It wasn't until I met 72-year-old Aunt Li in the community that I changed my mind. My aunt used to think that the only way to prevent falls was to install a bathroom handrail and buy a pair of non-slip shoes. She was too lazy to go square dancing, and the muscles in her legs were already loose. Last winter, she slipped on a dripping rag on the balcony and fractured her femoral neck. After three months, I started going to the field again. My body, which could have carried vegetables to the park for two stops, now had to rest after walking only 200 meters. It shook even while standing while chopping vegetables. The risk of falling has more than tripled than before. This is a typical consequence of separating fall prevention and mobility maintenance.

Nowadays, there are different voices in the industry regarding the priorities of the two. Public health scholars are more inclined to invest fall prevention resources in environmental renovation first. After all, installing anti-slip mats and handrails for the elderly has a wide coverage and has quick results. Data from the aging-friendly renovation pilot project in a district in Shanghai last year showed that the annual fall rate among the elderly in the district after the renovation was directly reduced by 18%. The results are very impressive.； However, experts in geriatric rehabilitation believe that environmental modification can only "reduce the possibility of tripping." However, whether you can stabilize yourself when you fall and whether something serious will happen after a fall still depends on your mobility. Another set of national tracking data can also prove that among the elderly who have also undergone aging-friendly modifications at home, those who insist on doing lower limb strength and balance training three times a week have a 42% lower risk of falling than those who only modify the environment, and the probability of serious injury after falling is more than 60% lower.

To put it bluntly, the relationship between the two is a bit like maintaining an old bicycle. You can't just think about covering all the places you pass with sponge to prevent falls, regardless of whether the brakes are working or whether the chain is loose. Mobility maintenance is the process of regularly adjusting the brakes and tightening the chain. Walking an extra two stops at ordinary times, occasionally practicing a 10-second stand on one leg, and even immediately intervening in rehabilitation after a fall to avoid muscle disuse atrophy are essentially insuring your mobility system.； Preventing falls is never a passive protection of "don't go out if you are afraid of falling". Pay more attention to whether your pace slows down and whether you will faint when you squat down and stand up. These signals used to detect the risk of falls are in itself a precise direction for the maintenance of mobility.

Last week I went to the community for follow-up and met Aunt Li. Now she holds on to the community fitness equipment and does high leg raises for 10 minutes every day. She has not staggered when walking in the past three months. She even joked that she thought that everything would be fine if she installed handrails. She really thought too little. Strong legs and feet are more effective than anti-slip mats.