Scientists discover 3 ways to predict if a senior will be prone to falling — years in advance

It’s critical that seniors be strong on their feet, as falls are the leading cause of injury in older adults.

In the US alone, almost a third of people over the age of 65 fall each year, resulting in injuries and occasionally death. Falls in the elderly cost $30 billion yearly to treat and can send seniors spiraling into poor health and disability.

Now, researchers from Stanford University may have found ways to identify people at risk of deadly or debilitating falls years before they reach old age.

“Small balance impairments can go unnoticed until someone actually falls. So, we wanted to ask: Can we detect these impairments before someone gets hurt?” explained Jiaen Wu, lead author of the paper.

Wu’s team outfitted 10 healthy volunteers between the ages of 24 and 31 with harnesses that allowed nearly a dozen cameras to track the movement of various body parts as they walked on a treadmill.

The team recorded the width between steps when walking, the difference in timing of each step and the consistency in foot placement.

Participants were then asked to walk while wearing ankle braces, an eye-blocking mask and with destabilizing air jets, impediments that mimicked the effects of aging on balance and reaction speed.

Armed with these inhibiting accessories, it became more difficult for participants to see their surroundings or maintain their balance, and researchers had a harder time predicting how wide or when the next step would be.

Comparing the first set of normal walking data to the encumbered, researchers found that participants with the highest variance in step width, timing and foot fall in the first stage were more likely to fall in the second stage — suggesting that how someone walks in their prime could determine how likely they are to experience a fall later in life.

The authors said each of these three initial walking measurements was 86% accurate in predicting if someone would experience a fall in the second experiment. 

“In this study, normal walking data was informative in most cases,” said Wu.

The findings were published this week in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Wu and the team are hopeful that data like this could provide an early warning for older people before they reach a high-risk age, potentially saving lives and curbing stress on the health care system.

Conventional efforts to prevent falls include exercises to boost strength and balance. Several studies have linked balance and stability to overall health.

One study conducted for the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2022 found that the ability to perform a 10-second, one-legged stance test predicted the survival of people in middle age and older.

The subjects of the 12-year study were 51 to 75. They had to try to stand on one foot for 10 seconds, with both hands at their sides.

Those unable to do it ended up having more health problems over time, including Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity and unhealthy cholesterol levels.

Most alarming of all, those who were unable to successfully balance for 10 seconds had a nearly doubled risk of dying within 10 years.

Researchers in China drew similar conclusions in 2023, reporting that the risk of death from any cause in middle-aged and older people increased with a lack of balance.

If you’re worried about declining stability, experts suggest engaging in dynamic balance exercises like walking up stairs, walking on just your heels or toes and practicing yoga or dance.

Steps older adults can take to reduce their risk of falling

• Exercise, including walking and stretching, can improve muscle strength and balance.
• Have a doctor review all medications to check for side effects or drug interactions that could cause dizziness or drowsiness.
• Get yearly vision exams to make sure eyes are healthy and glasses are the proper strength.
• Reduce fall risks at home by ditching clutter and poor lighting and installing handrails in tubs and showers.
• Limit consumption of alcohol, which can affect balance.
• Stand up slowly: Rising too quickly can sometimes result in a sudden drop in blood pressure, causing dizziness.
• Use a cane or walker if needed for steadiness.