Osteoporosis affects an estimated 200 million women worldwide, and each year an estimated 1.5 million individuals suffer a fracture due to bone disease worldwide.
The risk of a fracture increases with age and is greatest in women. Roughly 4 in 10 white women age 50 or older in the United States will experience a hip, spine, or wrist fracture sometime during the remainder of their lives, according to a report by the U.S. Surgeon General.
However, while the thinning bone mass of osteoporosis is considered the most common cause of fractures, we often forget that most fractures are preceded by a fall.
In fact, while we pay a lot of attention to how to slow the loss of bone mineral density, equal attention needs to be put on prevention falls, say Dr. Loren Fishman and Ellen Saltonstall in this free download.
Falls become increasingly common as people get older. The increased incidence of falls is due to certain predictable changes in our neuromuscular and cognitive functioning, many of which can be avoided or at the very least slowed.
This is important, because while we hear a lot about the damaging effects of osteoporotic fractures, falls are the cause of numerous other issues as well, say Loren and Ellen. Falls often lead to other serious injuries, like head injuries, and they are an increasingly common cause of hospitalization as people get older.
Studies comparing elderly people with a fall-related fracture to those without have found that about 25% of elderly with a serious fall die within a short period of time.
Loren and Ellen discuss why a fall is often referred to as a sentinel event, how the loss of balance with age increases the risk of falls, as well as numerous other factors that impacts the risk of falls as we get older.
You might also be interested in Loren and Ellen’s YogaUOnline course: Yoga for Healthy Aging & Fracture Prevention: Focus on Balance
