Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Fear of Falling

This seemed to be the whole point of my beginning of PT, don't you dare fall.
A fall logger here, keeping track of the falls a spouse takes.
http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/fear-of-falling/
For many seniors, the real risk and potential complications of falls can be exceeded by the morbid fear associated with going to ground. And it’s a circular problem — studies have shown the fear of falling actually increases the risk of falling.
Again, according to the Centers for Disease Control: “Many people who fall, even if they are not injured, develop a fear of falling. This fear may cause them to limit their activities, which leads to reduced mobility and loss of physical fitness, and in turn increases their actual risk of falling.”
This reminds me of my habit initially of always watching my feet as I was walking to make sure they landed in a safe spot. It took years to break myself of that habit. Walking in the dark in the woods is just the logical extension of that idea.

I look at this and correspond it to our therapy. We are so conditioned to be afraid of falls that we don't recognize when we are close to falling to be able to develop preventative strategies.

This statement  from the associated dissertation is instructive.
Fall-based therapy, by contrast, uses a robot to allow patients to experience failure at walking tasks without risking physical injury that results from falls.
http://oc1dean.blogspot.com/2012/08/motivation-through-inclusion-of-failure.html

Don't do any of this, I'm just a stupid survivor.

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