Many elderly people are afraid of high blood pressure, and elderly people with high blood pressure are even more afraid of winter. Low temperatures in winter, the cold will stimulate the body’s vasoconstriction, thus prompting a faster heart rate, higher blood pressure, increased heart load, and also increases the chance of cerebral hemorrhage and myocardial infarction attacks. However, what is more frightening than high blood pressure in winter is – the last fracture of life: hip fracture!
Why are older people prone to fractures in winter?
First of all, the winter is cold and the elderly are less active outdoors, which makes them prone to osteoporosis and fracture at the slightest touch and fall.
On the other hand, there is more rain and snow in winter, more days of snow and ice on the roads, smooth roads, swollen clothing, degenerative changes in the organs of the elderly, more organic diseases, slow movement, slow reaction, reduced vision and hearing, the elderly are most likely to fall, resulting in fractures.
Why are hip fractures so fatal?
According to Swedish data, the lifetime risk of hip fracture is as high as 11.2% for men and 23% for women. The surgical treatment of hip fractures is risky and requires the cooperation of orthopedic surgeons, anesthesiologists, intensive care units, internal medicine and other disciplines, as well as the patient and family. Moreover, the recovery process of elderly people is slow, and the rate of non-union of hip fracture is over 10%, which can easily lead to femoral head necrosis.
Older people are often accompanied by other underlying diseases, and conservative treatment of hip fracture is long and difficult to tolerate, with more risks!
However, regardless of conservative and surgical treatment, hip fracture patients will be bedridden for a long time due to the painful lower limbs that make it difficult to move around. And bed rest can bring four major complications: respiratory infection, urinary tract infection, deep vein thrombosis and decubitus ulcers, which can endanger the patient’s life if any of them occurs.
Therefore, hip fracture is called “the last fracture of life”, once it happens, the elderly are in danger of life!
The elderly go out in winter 8 precautions
Wear non-slip shoes to go out, the soles should not be hard, do not wear hard plastic light-soled shoes. Women should not wear high heels or muffin shoes with light soles, and the elderly should travel on crutches.
Walk with a low center of gravity, small pace, should not be too fast. Do not carry heavy objects, and do not put your hands in your pockets, because the hands swing back and forth can play a good role in balancing. It is not advisable to wear too thin, otherwise muscle contraction trembling, body coordination is low, very easy to fall.
Try to keep a certain distance from motor vehicles to prevent being touched by them. It is better to choose public transportation when going out.
If there is a fall, try to fall down with the momentum to minimize the possibility of fall injury. You can support yourself with both hands. Even if your wrist bone is fractured, it is easier to treat than a thigh fracture, especially in elderly people with thigh root fracture, which requires surgical fixation in mild cases and joint replacement in severe cases, or even fatal complications due to bed rest.
Don’t get up in a hurry after a fall, check first which parts of the body are in pain and whether there are any fractures. If you have lumbar pain, do not move at will, because if you move at will after a lumbar fracture, it is likely to cause joint dislocation, and in serious cases the lower limbs may be paralyzed.
Elderly people over 60 years old with osteoporosis should not go out alone as much as possible.
The elderly at home to prevent falls 6 considerations
National surveys show that more than half of the falls of the elderly occur at home, so intervention within the family is very important.
1.Reasonable arrangement of indoor furniture height and location, the placement of furniture should not be changed frequently, daily necessities are fixed in a convenient location to make the elderly familiar with the living space.
2.The home environment of the elderly should adhere to the concept of accessibility: remove obstacles that may affect the activities of the elderly; place commonly used items at a height and place that is convenient for the elderly to access; try to set up barrier-free spaces and not use furniture with wheels; try to avoid uneven ground heights, remove indoor steps and thresholds; take away all small indoor carpets or use double-sided tape to prevent small carpets from sliding; try to avoid Things are placed everywhere, wires should be put away or fixed in the corner, do not put miscellaneous items on the channel often walked.
3, indoor floor design should be non-slip, keep the ground flat, dry, aisle should be installed handrails; choose a good floor waxing and mopping time, if the mopping floor shall remind the elderly to wait for dry before walking, floor waxing is best to choose when the elderly go out.
4, the bathroom is the most frequent activities of the elderly, but also the most vulnerable place, so the environmental hazards in the bathroom need special attention. The bathroom floor should be non-slip and must be kept dry; as many elderly people have difficulty in moving, it is difficult to get up, sit down and bend down, so it is recommended to install more handrails in the bathroom; it is better to use a bidet than a squat toilet in the bathroom, and handrails should be installed next to the bathtub and toilet; non-slip rubber mats should be placed on the floor of the bathtub or shower room.
5.The elderly people’s requirement for illumination is 2 to 3 times higher than that of the young people, so the lighting at home should be improved to make the room well-lit, which is also very important to prevent the elderly people from falling.
6, in the hallway, bathroom and kitchen and other areas prone to falls should be specially arranged “local lighting”; in the elderly bedside should be placed easy to reach the table lamp.
When parents are here, there is still a place to come in life.
When parents go, there is only a way back to life.