Martial arts instructors are teaching the over-65s how to avoid serious injuries if they take a tumble. Dr Katrina McDonald is on a mission to bring the F word back. “We have a real problem confronting, or even just talking about, falling,” says the sport and exercise scientist.
A senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, she is also a dedicated judo coach and has co-written a new programme for British Judo, aimed at teaching the over-65s how to do something that most strenuously try to avoid — taking a tumble. One-third of people who are 65 or older will fall at least once a year. For those over 80, that proportion rises to 50 per cent, and bad falls can have nasty consequences.
They are the second-biggest cause of death by accidental injury, after only road crashes. An estimated 255,000 annual hospital admissions are related to falls in England alone. Charities, government policy and even the World Health Organisation therefore channel serious energy into preventing them.
But, there is a problem with these statistics and prevention programmes, suggests McDonald: “The fear of falling means you don’t want to risk it, so you stay at home more. Maybe you become isolated and lonely, which is bad enough. But you also reduce your mobility, so you lose muscle strength.
Your gait changes. You become a bit less stable. Suddenly, you’re at greater risk of falling.
” It’s a vicious cycle, and one that the new Finding your Feet programme aims to break. Judo might seem .