10. Injuries and falls

Falls are very common in the elderly. They are a major cause of injury, disability and even death.

The main risks triggers of fall are:

• Age over 75 years
• Altering the stability and gait
• polymedication
• cognitive Impairment
• muscle weakness
• Decreased vision
• Chronic diseases (osteoporosis) or acute (hypoglycemia)

The consequences that have these falls in the elderly may be physical (fractures) and psychosocial (social isolation). Because of the fall, the elderly don't recover the functional level that they had before, plus they may have a post-fall syndrome (which causes decreased mobility). Pain is one of the consequences of falls.

The recommendations of evaluating elderly patients after suffering a fall are:

• Anamnesis
• Number of falls
• Place of the last fall
• Activity
• Symptoms
• Consequences
• Comprehensive geriatric assessment
• Biomedical Assessment
• Functional Assessment
• Mental evaluation
• Social Assessment
• Association of geriatric syndromes
• Physical Examination
• Cardiovascular
• Neurological
• Locomotor apparatus
• Exploring the sense organs
• Visual System
• Auditory System
• Exploration of balance and gait
• Complementary examinations
• Environment Assessment

I think that it's  very important the prevention of falls in the elderly, because, at his age, not so easy to find physical form they had before the fall.

Bibliography

• Macías Núñez, J. F. Geriatría desde el principio (2ª edición). Barcelona: Editorial Glosa; 2005.