Answers to the Common Questions on Falls Prevention

Reducing the risk of falling, particularly in adults over 65.

Key takeaways

• Strongest intervention: strength and balance training
• Frequency: balance activities on 2 or more days a week
• Most useful single change: Do strength and balance exercise at least twice a week.
• Commonest mistake: Loose rugs, trailing cables and poor stair lighting.
• See a doctor if any of the signs under "When to speak to a doctor" below apply to you.

What is Falls Prevention?

Reducing the risk of falling, particularly in adults over 65.

Why does it matter?

A hip fracture is a life-changing event, and most falls have several contributing causes that are individually treatable.

Strongest intervention for Falls Prevention?

Strength and balance training.

Medication review for Falls Prevention?

Sedatives and some blood pressure medicines raise risk.

Any fall for Falls Prevention?

Predicts further falls and warrants assessment.

What is the single most useful thing to do?

Do strength and balance exercise at least twice a week.

What is the most common mistake?

Loose rugs, trailing cables and poor stair lighting.

When should I see a doctor?

See a GP after any fall, even without injury. Call 999 for a fall with head injury, particularly if you take anticoagulants, for loss of consciousness, or for an obviously deformed limb or inability to weight-bear. Seek urgent assessment for new confusion after a fall, or for dizziness on standing.

Where to go next

• Understanding Falls Prevention: A Plain-English Explainer
• A Working Checklist for Falls Prevention
• Falls Prevention — the reference entry
• The Evidence on Joint Replacement, Without the Hype
• Tendon Problems: What the Evidence Actually Says

When to speak to a doctor

See a GP after any fall, even without injury. Call 999 for a fall with head injury, particularly if you take anticoagulants, for loss of consciousness, or for an obviously deformed limb or inability to weight-bear. Seek urgent assessment for new confusion after a fall, or for dizziness on standing.

Where this comes from

• NICE — Falls in older people: assessing risk and prevention
• NHS — Falls

How this page was put together

Every figure, recommendation and warning above is taken from the guidance named in Where this comes from. Nothing on this page is inferred, summarised or generalised beyond what those bodies publish: where they give a number, it is their number, and where they are silent, so are we. Pages are rebuilt whenever the underlying record changes. Sign-off by a named clinician, where it has happened, is shown at the top of the page along with the date.

Medical disclaimer

This article is general information, not medical advice. It cannot account for your own history, medication or circumstances. Always speak to a GP, pharmacist or another qualified health professional before making changes that affect your treatment, and never delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read here. In an emergency, call 999.