Chronic Conditions & Fall Risk
Having a chronic health condition, such as diabetes, arthritis or heart disease, could increase your risk of falling.
Want the good news? There are resources and community programs to support you in staying healthy and lowering your risk. Talk with your health care provider about your fall risk and chronic conditions. Learn about community-based health promotion programs can help you to connect with others and reduce your risk. Read on below!
What do chronic conditions and fall risk have in common?
Some common chronic health conditions include arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, and vision and hearing loss. These can lead to developing fall risk factors. For example, chronic pain or being inactive can lead to a reduced range of motion, flexibility and strength. These are all risk factors for falls. Low blood pressure, vision and hearing loss, and certain medications are also fall risk factors.
Let’s look at an example with arthritis.
Someone with arthritis may suffer from painful joints and movement. This pain may limit activity. Being less active can lead to less mobility and muscle weakness. Some older adults may also start to limit activity due to a fear of falling. All of these factors combined, muscle weakness, less movement, chronic pain, and a fear of falling, can increase fall risk. According to a CDC review, adults with arthritis were 2.5 times more likely to report two or more falls or have a fall-related injury compared to adults without arthritis.
So what can I do about it?
Ask your health care provider about the connection between falls and arthritis (or a different chronic condition) and how this condition and symptoms might impact your fall risk.
Ask your health care provider about any fall risk factors that can be changed or improved, and how!
Find a no-cost community-based program to support your health - keep reading below for more info!
Add one or two of these healthy actions to what you already do to take care of yourself:
Check out this image from the National Council on Aging. You can see the different types of arthritis, the fall risk factors linked to arthritis, and possible solutions!
