Falling in Young Adults
Young adults fall more frequently than expected, and most falls occur during everyday activities such walking and talking, according to new research from Purdue University.
“The most commonly cited statistic is that one in
three older adults falls each year due to age-related changes in
balance, and in this four-month study, more than half of the college
students fell during daily activities,” said Shirley Rietdyk, a professor of health and kinesiology,
who only looked at young adults in this study. “The fall rate may be
lower for older adults because they are more cautious due to the higher
risk of serious, even fatal, injuries from falls. These findings also
highlight that walking on two legs is a challenging task that is
mechanically unstable, even for young, healthy adults.”
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Each student averaged one slip or trip a week,
but they recovered their balance for most of these perturbations.
Fifty-two percent of the participants fell at least once during the four
months, and 21 percent fell more than once. Sixteen percent of the
falls resulted in injury, and 4 percent required medical treatment.
Also, one-third of the falls happened indoors, and the fall rate was
still high when winter weather conditions were excluded. While physical
activity did not distinguish fallers from those who didn’t fall, falls
were more frequent as the physical activity level increased.
The study also examined other factors related to falls, such as substance abuse, which was attributed to 9 percent of the falls.
“The most common multi-task associated with
falling was talking to someone while walking,” Rietdyk said. “Despite
recent research showing an increase in injuries due to texting while
walking, only 3 percent of falls resulted from texting while walking in
this study. This is likely due to the fact that people texting are more
likely to be injured from walking into or in front of things, which may
not result in a fall.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, falls are the third leading cause of unintentional injuries
for ages 18-35, but how often young people fall has not been well
documented.
“We have all heard the expression, ‘He can’t chew
gum and walk at the same time,’” Rietdyk said. “Similarly, we expect
that talking while walking would be automatic. However, this multi-task
is cognitively demanding, requiring the simultaneously management of
language formulation, speech generation, terrain navigation, and balance
control.”
Rietdyk’s research is funded by Purdue’s
Department of Health and Kinesiology. She also is a faculty associate
with Purdue's Center on Aging and the Life Course. The paper was
co-authored by Michel Johannes Hubertus Heijnen, a graduate student in
health and kinesiology. Heijen also received two fellowships to support
his work on this project, the Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship and the
Purdue Research Foundation Research Assistantship.
Link to the Falls Study:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167945715300762?np=y
Remember to document the circumstances of falls!!!
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