The shouts of schoolchildren playing outside echo through the gymnasium where an obstacle course has been set up. There is a “Belgian sidewalk,” a wooden contraption designed to simulate loose tiles; a “sloping slope,” ramps angled at an ankle-unfriendly 45º and others such as “the slalom” and “the pirouette”. They are not for the children, though, but for a class where the students range in age from 65 to 94. The obstacle course has been clinically devised to teach them how to navigate treacherous ground without having to worry about falling, and how to fall if they do. “It’s not a bad thing to be afraid of falling, but it puts you at higher risk of falling,” says Diedeke van Wijk, a physiotherapist who runs WIJKfysio and teaches the course three times a year in Leusden, a community just outside Amersfoort, in the centre of the country. The Dutch, like many elsewhere, are living longer than in previous generations, often alone. As they do, courses that teach them not only how to avoid falling, but how to fall correctly, are gaining popularity. Yet falling courses, especially clinically tested ones, are a fairly recent phenomenon, according to Richard de Ruiter, of the Sint Maartenskliniek in Nijmegen, the foundation hospital that developed this particular course. Virtually unheard of just a decade ago, the courses are now common enough that the government rates them. Certain forms of Dutch health insurance even cover part of the costs. Falling can be a serious thing for older adults. Ageing causes the bones to become brittle, and broken ones do not heal as readily. Today, 18.5% of the Dutch population — roughly 3.2 million people — is 65 or older, according to official statistics. Experts say the rise in fatalities reflects the overall aging of the population, and also factors such as the growing use of certain medications or general inactivity. More and more old people have an inactive lifestyle,” says Saskia Kloet, a programme manager at VeiligheidNL, an institution that offers similar courses. Even inactivity in one’s 30s or 40s can lead to problems later in life, she notes. Text and picture: Jasper Juinen/THE NEW YORK TIMES
