Falls

Within the past year, my Uncle took a bad fall (tearing his quadricep muscle), my Dad fell and fractured two ribs, now today word that my Aunt has fallen and broken her wrist and badly injured her knee. My Dad and Aunt are 80; my Uncle 82.

What's odd is that I don't think of any of these folks as "elderly" in terms of risk of falling, but of course that isn't the case. My Dad used to walk 3 miles a day until a few years ago when he took a fall (but was not injured). That drove him inside for exercise because he became fearful about falling...an apparently very common fear after a fall.

I'm worried about my Aunt, though. It seems that both a wrist and a knee injury could be very disabling during the recovery process. She's in the hospital now, where she will be for at least a few days.