As we reach elder-hood; the phase in our life proceeding childhood and adulthood, it is apparent that many things in life are not quite as they used to be.
Wrinkles appear as the skin looses elasticity, bones and joints are injured more easily and seem to take longer to heal. Osteoporosis, arthritis, cancer, and heart disease are all most common among seniors, as well as decreased eyesight, hearing, and memory.
Taking into consideration these effects on the aging body, it is not hard to correlate an increased risk of unintentional injuries to the body. Some of the more common accidents among seniors include; house fires from cooking or candle use, poisoning from household chemicals, cuts from common chores such as can opening, motor vehicle accidents, near drowning from swimming pools, bicycle accidents, and lawn care accidents such as riding mowers tipping over. The most common cause of injury among seniors is falling, and the highest percentage of falls happen in the bathroom.
- Stander: Often times seniors find that they could benefit from a helpful hand in and out of bed, or aid in repositioning while sleeping. A bed-rail may be just the solution; however, entrapment in a bed-rail is not an uncommon injury among users. Read this site’s tips on preventing bed-rail entrapment, along with other information on bed-rails in general.
- Unintentional Injury Prevention: This blog site is dedicated to unintentional injuries among all ages and races. It does specify particular accidents which are more common among the elderly, along with ways to prevent them.
- Senior Journal: An interesting article on this page sites walking canes and walkers as a cause of accidental injury to elderly, sending over 47,000 per year to the emergency room. Read some helpful tips on avoiding this type of accident in the house as well as out and about.
- Missouri Senior Report: Find out what your community can do to decrease elderly risk of injury from falling on this Missouri senior site.
- Oasis: Learn what the most common causes of falls in the home are, along with tips to making your home a fall-free zone.
- Maine Health: Healthy aging is the focus of this site, with a strong emphasis on fall prevention.
- PCHRD: Sports injuries are a common type of unintentional injury among seniors. Read through this article to find out which types of sports have higher rates of injury, along with the common types of injury, and how to prevent them.
- The Injury Board: Fall prevention is the focus of this blog-site article.
- Senior Magazine: A great checklist is included on this site highlighting all areas of the home which pose potential accident hazards.
- Working Caregiver: This caregiver site features a home safety checklist, to help prevent common in home injuries among the elderly.
- Macon: Accidental poisoning by household chemicals is a common mistake among the elderly. Read some facts on this site about avoiding this type of injury.
- Cooper Health: It has been reported that more than one-third of American seniors suffer from a fall each year. Follow this blog to get prevention and home safety tips.
- Heavenly Helpers: Senior citizens consume 40% of all prescription drugs in America, unfortunately, these prescription drugs can sometimes lead to accidental injury. Read this blog post, and learn how to avoid medication mishaps.
- Euro IPN: This study from Greece lists the five most common unintentional injuries that led to death among seniors in their country.
- Drugscope: Substance misuse among the elderly is a topic discussed on this blog.
- Seabridge Bathing: This blog dedicated to the elderly celebrates June as home safety month, with several tips on how to prevent in home accidents.
- Weitz & Luxenberg: Hip fractures, are the most serious fall injury among seniors.
- Suburbanite: The Safety Seekers Coalition is a program that was created to focus on the prevention of injuries to the senior community in Summit County.
- Space Coast Medicine: Visit this blog for home safety evaluations and steps to reduce risk of falls in the home for seniors.
- Be in the Know: Project Healthy Bones, a 24-week course featuring education and exercise for seniors at risk of osteoporosis, was started in New Jersey in the hopes to decrease falls among the elderly.
- Senior Living Blog: Statistics show that 1/3 of accidents in the home could have been prevented. This senior blog includes some tips to increase the safety of your home.
- Arrive Alive: This insurance blog has several posts about the safety of elderly drivers.
- Flaxman Law Group: See what steps the state of Florida has taken to reduce the risk of motor vehicle accidents among the high population of elderly.
- Asia Healthcare: This blog site features articles stressing the importance of knowledge as it pertains to the healthcare of the elderly. A study highlighted in the post expresses the usefulness of identifying the cause and most common location of injuries to help reduce these risks.
- Reeves Law Group: Read this law groups reasons why the elderly are more at risk of a fall injury than the younger population, and ways to prevent falls from happening.
- Target Health: This is an interesting study stating that the fear of falling may increase the risk of falls among elderly, regardless of their actual risk.
- InfoSplat: Find out if exercise increases or decreases the risk of falling for elderly.
- Aging Care: This home healthcare blog site features articles on how to prevent accidents and falls around the home of the elderly.
- NewsPlex: This article showcases funding awarded to analyze some of the most common injuries sustained by the elderly in motor vehicle accidents.
- Software Objects: See what advancements in technology have done to aid in preventing medication mishaps among seniors.
- West Metro: This helpful checklist for fire and fall prevention is available to senior citizens.
- Anapol Schwartz: Burns from home fires prove to be one of the more common unintentional injuries among seniors. Here is information on the most common types of burns and how to avoid them.
- Home Security Action: How to prevent accidents in the home for elderly safety.
- Georgia Injury Law: This blog features an article focusing on an awareness campaign for attention on slip and fall accidents among senior citizens.
- Dr Driving: This study focuses on fatality statistics among elderly car accidents.
- Senior Journal: This article describes why seniors who fail to take their medication correctly are at a higher risk of falls.
- Aberdeen Safer Community Trust: This site features a section titled, “Older and Wiser” geared toward keeping the elder community safe.
- Cliffview Pilot: View opinions on the safety of senior drivers, and the likelihood of them in auto accidents.
- Grossman Law Firm: Read what researchers suggest to help prevent the rate of elderly slip and fall accidents.
- Self Help: This site features home care tips for the elderly, including avoiding and dealing with falls.
- Chalik & Chalik: One of the posts on this blog tells the story of an elderly South-Florida man who suffered from a slip and fall accident.
- Jacksonville Injury Lawyer Blog: Carbon monoxide poisoning is one of the accidents senior citizens are at risk of, read this post on avoiding this mishap.
- Senior Citizen Journal: Learn how sleep disorders among senior citizens may increase the rate of falling accidents.
- Westbrook: Review this home safety checklist to help prevent injuries at home.
- Qigong Chinese Health: This article lists several benefits to senior citizens doing qigong; including lowering their risk of accidents.
- Brown County: This senior safety document is handy for preventing and identifying some of the more common accidents among seniors.
- Creative Small Business Ideas: This post describes how being a senior citizens safety consultant can help to prevent situations which may lead to accident and injury amongst the elderly.
Image Credits: tuppus
