After 60, train balance and leg strength and make bathrooms and stairs safer
Balance training a few times a week reduces the number of falls in older adults by about 23% and the number of people who fall by 15%. Home safety improvements such as nonslip surfaces and handrails reduce falls by about 20%. Falls are China's leading cause of injury death after 65, and over half happen at home.
What it takes
Practice tai chi or balance exercises for 30 minutes, 2–3 times weekly. In China, nonslip mats, grab bars and nightlights cost tens to hundreds of renminbi. The challenge is keeping up the exercises.
What you may gain
A Cochrane analysis of 108 trials involving 23,407 people found that exercise reduced the rate of falls by 23%: rate ratio (RaR) 0.77, 95% CI 0.71–0.83. The proportion of people who fell declined 15% (RR 0.85). Home safety assessment and modification reduced falls by about 20% (RR 0.81, 95% CI 0.68–0.97). Tai chi lowered fall risk by about 29% (RR 0.71). In China, falls are the leading cause of injury death among people over 65; 55.97% of monitored older-adult falls in 2018 occurred at home.
Context & considerations
This applies to adults over 60 living at home, not in care facilities. These studies counted falls, not deaths. For an older person, however, a fall can lead quickly to a hip fracture and then to death.
Research & references
Sherrington C et al. (2019). Exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012424.pub2 ; Gillespie LD et al. (2012). Interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD007146.pub3 ; Lu Z et al. (2021). Characteristics of Falls Among Older People — China, 2018. China CDC Weekly. https://doi.org/10.46234/ccdcw2021.013