Each season has its own exceptional needs. In the spring of our years, our parents make provisions for the heat and intensity of a long working life. Summer and Autumn give us the chance to prepare for our parents’ needs in return. One of the needs we should consider is home safety for elderly parents. Falls in elderly patients are always a concern.
The Wintering period of life can indeed be the most beautiful and dignified chapter of our parents’ lives. We want a lifestyle that is comfortable for our parents just as they once brought us comfort. And if you’re unsure that you’ve given enough thought to elderly home safety at this delicate stage, here is a great resource for you.
How General Health Concerns Compound
Let’s place ourselves in the position of an elderly parent. There’s so much we can take for granted in our relatively young bodies. We don’t often consider home safety for elderly parents or falls in elderly patients. This is largely because we don’t yet experience such threats of arthritis or Parkinson's; our delicate inner ears are probably healthy, meaning balance is second nature to us; the vascular system is still fully operational, and blood pressure doesn’t hamper us too much when standing up. But even if none of these factors of elderly home safety are in play for an elderly person, the seen world can become less sure. We know now that macular degeneration of the eyes is widely responsible for many sudden falls.
Put all these health factors of elderly home safety together and it’s little wonder that falls in elderly patients are so perennial. This is particularly true toward end of life stages when parents might want to return home to their children for family-facilitated care. But within the context of home safety for elderly parents, we will be talking primarily about their home and their journey within the aging body.
Empathy is the first step in protecting them from age-related falls. But this goes for any phase of old age your parents might be facing. Empathy not only opens up new ideas for elderly home safety management; it also helps you to talk to them on their level of need. Their home and their dignity need to remain intact, but falls are still the largest safety concern for the elderly, and so it makes sense that you focus on preventing these by taking action. Looking into elderly mobility is a marvelous starting point.
Preventing Injury
After having considered what your elderly folks are up against in terms of their own bodily limitations, it’s time to take action in maintaining the health of our loved ones and put a plan of action in place to facilitate elderly mobility. Falls in elderly patients are closely connected to elderly mobility. Let’s look at the various ways you can help to keep your loved ones living in that optimally healthy and dignified state for as long as possible.
Encouraging Regular Mobility
From the outside, it can seem as if age is just slowing down our parents and that it won’t be a permanent setback. They could move more steadily if they only tried, at least we think. Only in later years do we realize our naivety in this subject. We want them to stay with us forever so we don’t step in to help them help themselves. We’d do anything to ensure they’re strong and immune to injury. Before discussing this with your parents, make sure you see their physical condition for what it is and operate around that.
What You Can Do
Discuss mobility:
You may need to initiate a respectful discussion about the need for regular mobility exercises for safety. This is also an opportunity to consider how you can prevent falls in the home. Ask them which areas, in particular, they struggle with. Gently encourage your parents to begin a daily movement regime with a professional instructor or to increase their movement in their own day-to-day lives. Explain that this will aid their mobility for as long as possible.
This doesn’t need to represent a dramatic shift in their lifestyle. It might be a stroll in the garden or getting up to stretch every half hour. This is a boon for the vascular system, the muscles, and general balance. Set up their home for the task. We’ve found that a plan for home safety for elderly parents needs to be realistic though. So it pays to spend some time out to think about how you can optimize home safety for elderly parents through elderly mobility exercises.
A study in Japan found that regular intermittent movements throughout the day led to the same impact on longevity as a half-hour walk. And simply standing up and raising one’s arms has also proven enormously impactful in improving lifelong elderly mobility.
Danger-proofing the living space:
If certain areas of their home are too narrow or too wide, this can negatively impact elderly mobility. Be mindful, too, that cold or dark spaces don’t exactly encourage elderly home safety, so ensure areas of mobility are well lit. Falls in elderly patients usually become an issue at night, especially when going to the bathroom is a matter of urgency! So be sure that all light switches are easy to reach or that convenient night-lights are installed.
The Importance of Preventing Falls
The aim of increasing bodily strength and range of function and of danger-proofing the living space is to prevent falls, which, in turn, obviates a spiral of lessened independence and increases the risk of falling even further. You may have heard of a friend’s elderly parent who is always falling. This negative feedback loop is the main reason for falls in elderly patients. Lowered ability to carry and balance the weight of the body leads to falls, which, in turn, leads to even lowered strength and balance.
Consider Buying Walking Aids
If stumbling is a regular or potential issue, you will likely need to invest in some form of walking aid. These vary in form from zimmer frames to motorized wheelchairs. We want to reiterate that falls play havoc on future mobility and lead to further injury, so one needs to do all they can to prevent the first major falls from happening.
Other considerations
It’s also possible to discourage unhealthy habits. Excessive sitting can create atrophy and cause permanent stiffness in the joints. This can be brought on by watching too much TV, so try to discourage this if necessary.
In Conclusion
This discussion was aimed at increasing the mobility, balance, and strength for home safety for elderly parents. In a respectful and encouraging way, it’s possible to protect your parents from the challenges of their own aging bodies. Once they know it’s in their best interests, the rest becomes fairly easy. Set up their space in a way that’s conducive to movement, too. There are many relevant exercises available in books and on the internet if private help is not yet necessary or feasible.
We can’t force their progress toward bodily strength, stability, and prolonged safety. On the other hand, we can’t put their degeneration out of mind completely. We encourage you therefore to find a healthy balance and to carefully consider the importance of mobility for its benefits on home safety for elderly parents. In taking a serious look at what can be done to maintain healthy joints and body function, there is a lot of hope that can be gleaned. We might find that our elderly loved ones are actually able to increase mobility over time.
If you have any doubts or misgivings regarding your loved ones’ safety, we’d really love for you to call us today. Our team of seasoned in-home care experts is a reputable part of the Citrus Heights community and will ensure you leave nothing to chance. Be sure to contact us today and get in touch with our professionals sooner rather than later.
