FALLING Don't Shoot the Throw-rug

 Rug story:    

During WW2,  Mom and Grandma sewed badly-worn clothes into long strips and sent them to a woman who made throw rugs.  We needed several for our kitchen and its long hallway.  

Two women and sometimes Daddy doing all kinds of work with scrub water and dangerous boiling water from cooking, and steaming water from pressure cooking. There was danger.  And then I learned to cook. Why do I tell you this?

Because no one fell down. 

Why not?   What worked?  

Usually sensible adults…  

Mostly, they had fewer distractions, no tv, phone on wall, one radio on each floor. Wet linoleum had newspapers on it to avoid slipping. No dogs in house.

Big safe feature: carpet in the rest of the  of house including stairs , and sturdy rubber mats on basement stairs and in the laundry and chicken-cleaning room. 

Then the world invented new hazards. TV in so many places you might sit on it by accident.  Stuff we want is in pictures on the new phone.  New, pretty (and sometimes slick) floors in kitchen and bath. Shoes;  Comfy (maybe), pretty, desirable but rarely safe shoes for ­­­­both sexes worn all day for everything.  

 We are moving oftener, for jobs or better schools, or whatever.  So rugs may be practical.

In the last 15 years, no apartment was desirable without nice wood or faux wood floors, despite noise from rooms with area rugs (including noise of people falling.)     

Nobody checks  pretty floors for safety. Luckily, my apartment has carpet.  

                                       SO HOW DO WE AVOID FALLING?

Balance IS NOT A GUESSING GAME: 

At my request, my MD found a very detail-oriented Physical therapist who first tested to make sure I have the levels of balance to help protect from falls everywhere at home. He was strong enough to catch me when I barely passed the test. Then he cheeked even stepping off curbs en route to the coffee  shop. .)  By the way, I was trained in acute rehab for stepping off curbs; if we don’t practice, we have to learn again.

He walked with me, even on a grassy area to see how I do.  (I would like more work like that, since some grass area is lumpy between me and Starbucks  

He also checked my gait.  (You need someone who KNOWS how to do that, not just someone who works in a foot doctor’s office.)  My gait varies a lot so I need to (have to say it) practice and pay attention to it.

My REFLEXES are surprisingly good.   Any idea how yours are?

SHOES Guys are silly as women about shoes.  I no longer wear heels – a slight  wedge on my Clarks.(once, a senior female relative pitched a noisy fit in a store about giving up fashion heels.)  Don’t be her.

    We listen if someone tells us we’re not being careful.­­   We can learn to pay attention as we  move around.

It isn't easy.  It doesn't feel young and capable.  We have to.