In Which I Host a Podcast Episode You Really Must Listen To

Because as you age, falling down hurts more than your dignity — learn what you need to know

Image by OpenIcons from Pixabay

Icy parking lots, rain-slicked sidewalks

Also, uneven steps. Treacherous tree roots on the footpath. Those dizzyingly steep airport escalators. 

You’ve encountered them most of your life. But as you’ve aged, they’ve become more than minor annoyances — they’re downright scary.

Because taking a tumble doesn’t mean something fun anymore. And while you learned to walk mostly by falling, an unplanned trip to the floor isn’t something you take lightly.

You’re not wrong to be concerned 

While falling — on your diapered bum, off your trike, or while playing sports was an accepted, necessary part of life when you were a kid, falls are no joke when you’re an older adult.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, for people 65 and older, falls are the leading cause of injury. Over 14 million falls — one out of four older adults — are reported by the age group yearly in the U.S.

And those are just the reported falls. I sure didn’t contact the CDC the last time I landed on my rump after stepping out of my car onto a patch of ice. Luckily, I wasn’t hurt, just embarrassed. 

Which probably accounts for a lot of unreported falls.

But of the oopsies that do get reported, about 37% result in injury that requires medical treatment or restricts activity for at least a day — which means around nine million fall injuries every year.

Falls can be deadly

They’re the leading cause of injury-related death among the 65-and-over age group. And not to bring you down (horrible pun, I know), but the rate of death from falls has increased over the last decade for which CDC stats are available — by 41%. 

You don’t have to drop out of a skyscraper or have your parachute fail either. Fatality from a fall can come months later from a collision with the pavement that’s hard enough to break a hip, for instance, which can lead to a whole cascade of bad health outcomes that end up in, well, the end.

“Common, costly, and preventable”

That’s how the CDC describes falls among older adults. That last word — preventable — is the good news.

Image courtesy Crow's Feet: Life As We Age

And that’s what the Crow’s Feet podcast episode that releases on March 12, 2025, focuses on. Dr. Alan Beyer, the Executive Medical Director at Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Newport Beach, California, joins the show to tell us what we should all know about falls, their risks, and, most importantly, fall prevention.

 

As you’ll hear, there is a lot you can — and should — do to reduce your chances of falling in the first place. And while you may not be able to prevent all falls, there are also steps you can take to improve your prospects of a swift and complete recovery.

So do yourself and your loved ones a favor by tuning into what could literally be a life-saving episode, starting March 12 wherever you get your podcasts.

And for goodness sake, hang onto the handrail when you go downstairs.