At times, it's unavoidable to walk on snow or ice in the winter. While anyone could fall, seniors are especially susceptible to falling and sustaining injuries from these falls.
Rachel Surowiec is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Purdue University. Her team operates the Bone Lab.
"We're really interested in bones, and we want to know why your bone breaks, and we want to know what we can do to stop that," Surowiec explained.
Older adults are at higher risk for developing osteoporosis. This can also be more common in those with:
- type 2 diabetes
- chronic kidney disease
- obesity
- underweight
Women are also more likely to develop osteoporosis because of the changes that occur during menopause.
With osteoporosis, the rate of fracturing bones when falling is much higher compared to a normal adult.
"We call it a silent disease because it's very difficult to detect," Surowiec said. "Oftentimes, we don't know we have osteoporosis until we go on to sustain a fracture."
Peak bone mass occurs around age 30. Bones naturally become weaker with age, but it is exacerbated with osteoporosis.
Our bones contain minerals, collagen, and water. The structure of bones can change as we age. Your body may produce lower-quality collagen or the incorrect amount of water or minerals.
"It reduces the amount of bone you have. It will reduce the quality of the bones that's there, and it can also reduce the strength of the bone itself," Surowiec says of osteoporosis.
While a fracture is bad enough news, it can have lasting repercussions.
"When a senior sustains a hip fracture, within one year, up to 25 percent of these individuals will actually progress into mortality," Surowiec explained. "Another 25 percent of these individuals will lose a lot of function and quality of life, and they end up in nursing homes, never to return back home."
Dr. Imtiaz Ahmad with IU Health Urgent Care explained that he sees many patients with injuries from falling during snowy weeks.
"They are quite worried... because they're isolated or they don't have too much companionship," he described of elderly patients with fall injuries. "Because they are frail, so they become more incapacitated. Are they going to have surgery? So they become quite worried."
Dr. Ahmad says that on the days when it snows, he won't notice an uptick in fall injuries, but he knows they will happen after the snow.
"Most of the time, it is the next day which is more busy," he explained. "Because when it is snowing, sometimes they put winter warnings, don't go out if you don't have to."
Urgent Care will be busier once people get out again in the days following a snow.
Dr. Ahmad says seniors are more at risk of falling because certain medicines can impact coordination, they are less physically active, and their vision can be bad.
If you have to walk in the snow or ice, take your time.
"Very, very steady," said Dr. Ahmad. "Small steps, walking like a penguin."
Avoid holding items in your hands to help you balance. It is recommended to have your phone with you so that you can call for help in case you do fall.
Don't catch yourself with your wrists in front of you if you fall. Dr. Ahmad recommends falling backward if you can.
A big part of prevention also includes getting more active.
"As you start to age, your tendons, your ligaments, and muscle mass start to deteriorate," says Kollyn All, a coach at Correct2Compete in Zionsville.
"If you don't train, or if you start to lack working out... really what that causes is a lack of stability," explained All.
All showed a few at-home exercises that can help with your stability.
This stability can help you remain upright next time you are in an icy situation.
While we know a lot about the results of osteoporosis, we still have questions about detection and the cause.
"What really drives us is trying to come up with earlier detection methods," Rachel Surowiec said about the Bone Lab.
"If we know you might be at risk of fracturing a bone, we're going to detect it much earlier, where we can do some intervention," Surowiec described the mission of her lab's research.
