Falls

A change of course is not automatically a failure. Falling down is unavoidable in human life. Human life includes many forms of falling, including losses, reversals, suffering, and disappointments. Falling well means meeting what happened without adding denial, shame, narcissistic injury, or unnecessary resistance. Falls in older adults are strongly connected to slow cortical reaction and low muscle tone. Elderly people may not recognize they are falling until already halfway to the ground due to delayed cortical reaction, increasing injury risk. As brain activity decreases with aging, cortical inhibitory control weakens and older individuals may become more bent, crooked, or drawn forward. More than 18,000 people over 65 die from falls each year. Falls are the number one cause of injury death in people over age 65. There are 2.2 million fall-related emergency room visits annually, of which 581,000 result in hospitalization. The practical question is how skillfully people participate in falling and rising, not whether falling can be avoided.