This week is Falls Prevention Awareness Week, organized by the National Council on Aging (NCOA). According to NCOA, falls result in millions of emergency department visits each year for older adults. Even younger people with disabilities may be at risk from injuries due to falls. One study from the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Developmental Disabilities and Health (PDF) found that one in five young adults and one in three middle-aged adults with intellectual disabilities reported falling in the previous year, and nearly 25% of those fall-related injuries required medical attention. Injuries from falls can be severe, including broken bones and head injuries. Even without injuries, falls can have a serious impact on a person’s quality of life. Fear of falling can cause a person to limit their activities, both inside and outside their home. This can lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation, as well as declines in physical health.

Falls prevention programs may help people feel safer and steadier at home and out in the community, enabling greater participation in life activities. Falls prevention programs can include information about conditions or medications that affect equilibrium; assessments of home elements which increase the risk of falling, such as loose carpeting or lack of handrails on stairs; movement programs which encourage flexibility, stability, and strength; and technology to alert care providers to a fall.

Here are a few resources from the NIDILRR community and elsewhere which may help in understanding the risk of falls and their potential impact, and to help avoid them in the future.

• The SCI Fall-Related Unintentional Injury Calculator from the NIDILRR-funded Health, Employment, and Longevity Project can help people with spinal cord injuries understand the risk of a fall based on factors like age, injury level, and medication and substance use. 
• This article from MedlinePlus.gov explains what happens during a fall risk assessment with a care provider.
• Fall Prevention for Older Adults (PDF) from the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) describes how an OT practitioner can help reduce risks of falling by assessing the home environment, suggesting equipment or modifications to routines, and recommending ways to increase physical conditioning.
• Check for Safety (PDF) is a home fall prevention checklist for older adults from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
• For health care providers, the STEADI Older Adult Fall Prevention program from the CDC includes many materials to screen, assess, and intervene to reduce fall risk in older patients and those who may be at risk due to disabilities or chronic conditions. STEADI-Rx was developed by the CDC to provide guidance to pharmacists to assess, screen, and assist their patients in reducing fall risk. There is also a companion toolkit for pharmacists developed by NCOA and the American Society of Consulting Pharmacists.

Several current and completed NIDILRR projects have focused on the impact of falls, fall prevention interventions, and technology to reduce the risk of falls and their impact on community participation. Learn more about these projects in the NIDILRR Program Database or browse through abstracts of their articles and reports in the REHABDATA database. You can even participate in some of these studies, like this one on monitoring and managing falls for people with long-term physical disabilities like multiple sclerosis and post-polio syndrome at the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technologies to Support Aging-in-Place for People with Long-Term Disabilities.

In addition, the National Falls Prevention Resource Center, funded by the Administration for Community Living, supports the implementation and dissemination of evidence-based falls prevention programs and strategies.

Please contact our information specialists to learn more about falls prevention resources in your community. Stay safe!