Remaining physically fit and sticking to a regular exercise routine could minimise your risk of falling, says new research.
About 19,000 people die every year in the US from falls and about eight million undergo treatment in emergency rooms.
What’s more, although falls are the leading cause of injuries among people aged 65 and above, young people fall down just as much as seniors, according to the study.
“We were not surprised that people aged 65 years and older were no more likely to report falling than younger people, given that younger people are more likely to engage in more risky activities, such as standing on ladders, running and playing sports,” said Kristin Mertz.
Mertz, epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh (UofP), who led the study and her colleagues wanted to learn what people are doing when they fall and whether fitness has a part in the likelihood of falling.
The researchers used data from participants in the Aerobics Centre Longitudinal Study from 1970 to 1989 and who responded to questions about falls during a follow-up survey in 1990.
The survey asked whether the participants had fallen in the past 12 months and, if so, what they were doing when they fell. Were they, for instance, walking, doing sports, exercising or getting out of a tub?
Participants also answered questions about how many minutes each week they did aerobic exercise and they took a treadmill test as a measure of fitness.
Of the 10,615 participants aged between 20 and 87 years, 2,110 (or 20 percent) reported falling in the last year. Of those who fell, 15 percent fell while walking.
Women were 2.8 times as likely as men to fall while walking, but fitness levels made a difference in men falling while it did not for women.
The study found that men with low fitness levels were 2.2 times more apt to fall while walking than were highly fit men, said a university release.
Researchers concluded that individuals need about two hours of regular exercise a week to lower the risk of falling. Those who exercised less -- or not at all -- did not have the same protection.
Their findings will appear online in the July issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
