Falls: How to reduce risks, call for action

0
205
Falls: How to reduce risks, call for action
Physical therapy can significantly reduce the risks of falling. (Photo/Yuri Arcurs/Peopleimages.com via Adobe Stock)
Facebooktwittermail

By Jeff Camara

Every day, tens of thousands of older Americans fall. These falls often lead to prolonged pain, broken bones, hospitalizations and even death. One in four adults aged 65 or older experience a fall every year, resulting in roughly 3 million emergency room visits and 300,000 hip fractures. They also significantly increase the financial strain on our healthcare system, with estimated annual costs reaching $100 billion by 2030, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When it comes to preventing and minimizing the impact of falls, the U.S. healthcare system has a powerful tool at its disposal: physical therapy. Physical and occupational therapists are instrumental in developing tailored exercise and treatment programs that enhance patients’ strength, balance, and mobility. According to a recent report, in the six months after a fall, seniors who use physical therapy services are 50% less likely to require a trip to the emergency room or be hospitalized and are nearly 40% less likely to use opioids.

Not only does physical therapy help reduce older Virginians’ risk of falling, lower pain levels and improve their quality of life, but it also results in significant savings for our healthcare system. The same report found that increasing physical therapy use among seniors could help Medicare save $10 billion annually.

There is no denying that increasing access to, and the use of, physical therapy services among older Americans provides a solution that helps to rein in healthcare spending and improve countless lives.

Assessing fall risks

Physical and occupational therapists are uniquely qualified to provide falls risk assessments and other fall prevention services to older Americans. As experts in fall prevention, physical and occupational therapists can help to identify potential hazards in the home, suggest living space adaptations to ensure safety and ease in daily activities and tailor a plan to help build each patients’ strength and balance.

To begin a falls risk assessment, physical and occupational therapists ask three critical questions:

• Have you fallen (or almost fallen) in the past year?

• Do you feel unsteady when standing or walking?

• Do you have a fear of falling?

Depending on the answers to the preliminary questions, they may also ask about the layout or location where the patient spends most of their time to identify tripping hazards and activities that might prove challenging, such as walking up stairs.

After asking these questions, the physical/occupational therapist will then screen the patient for additional fall risks through three quick tests: the Timed Up-and-Go, which allows the therapist to check a patient’s gait; the 30-Second Chair Stand, which monitors the patient’s strength and balance; and the Four-Stage Balance Test, which determines the patient’s balance baseline.

Following the falls risk assessment, the therapist and patient can work together to develop an individualized treatment plan that can improve their strength, endurance and balance as needed. Some common forms of interventions may include walking programs, balance training activities, lower extremity strength, endurance training, home safety and training on the appropriate use of assistive devices, such as canes or walkers.

How lawmakers can help

Fortunately, Congress can help expand access to the preventative care older Americans need. Just last month, U.S. Congressman Don Beyer sent representatives to visit The Jackson Clinics Physical Therapy in Old Town to learn more about the SAFE Act and the essential services physical and occupational therapists provide to members of our community.

Bipartisan lawmakers have championed the Stopping Addiction and Falls for the Elderly Act, or H.R.7618, which would allow Medicare beneficiaries to receive a no-cost fall risk assessment from a physical or occupational therapist as part of their annual wellness visit and initial preventive physical exam.

The SAFE Act recognizes physical therapists as the experts in fall prevention and aims to bolster patient safety, thereby helping to safeguard the physical health of older patients by reducing fall-related injuries. You can help advocate for the wellbeing of older individuals right here in Virginia by asking your member of Congress to support the SAFE Act.

The writer is a physical therapist and the clinical director of The Jackson Clinics in Ashburn.

instagram
Facebooktwittermail