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My mom fell last night and thankfully, did not injure herself, but she could not get up off the floor without extensive help from me. I know falls are extremely common in the elderly and impossible to prevent entirely. I just read this article which was quite good:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK560761/
My mom has several of the risk factors — she is 80, lives alone, extremely sedentary (which contributes to sarcopenia or muscle wastage), high BMI, gait issues, arthritis, balance problems, and fear of falling.
One good tip is Vitamin D.
I also found lots of good YouTube videos including specifically for how to build strength to get up off the floor if you fall. And gentle / beginner chair exercises for strength and flexibility. Fingers crossed that she will be willing and able to do some of them and more motivated this time.
I also will suggest she try the walker again — she does use a cane. I think putting a basket on the walker might help as she carries things like a coffee cup or bowl at times.

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My Mom is 95 and lives semi-independently in the house next to mine. She has moderate dementia and has fallen outside once where she couldn't get up and then indoors in the past 5 years where she ended up injured, but recovered. This past week she called me at 1am because she fell out of bed. Didn't know why. Was able to use her shoe to knock her phone off the end table. After I checked her for injury, I was able to have her roll over and get on all fours and then she pulled herself up using a chair I placed in front of her. I bought and installed a bed rail (the short kind that doubles as a bar to pull yourself upright in bed). She griped about it but I told her this is what will help keep her in her home longer. This always ends the griping. My Mom has a lot of arthritis all over and kyphosis in her back but she does more in a day than most 95 yr olds do in a month, including going up and down the full set of stairs to do her laundry (and up until last August she was still driving). She was gardening, housecleaning and shoveling her own snow. IMO doing "exercises" at an advanced age to build strength and create flexibility is mostly theoretical and not going to amount to much. I'm glad your Mom didn't get hurt. I hope you know to never try to help her up yourself. Call 911 for a lift assist no matter how resistant she may be to that (and the embarrassment). It's not worth throwing your own back out. Please have tempered expectations about what your Mom will do about her balance and falling. If she's obese then she was never a person to exercise and isn't ever going to be that person. Resist projecting your concept of old age onto her, you will only be met with disappointment. But I do think taking vitamin D doesn't hurt. I take it daily as does my Mom.
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So many falls are due in elders to the brain having poor control of balance. Balance exercises, when done with consistency can be such a help. But at 82 I guarantee you that we WILL fall, that a fall can be the beginning of the end, and that we can't recover from tripping, and are feathers in the wind on moving buses and such.
Thanks for posting this.
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It'd be a good idea to call the business office of your local EMS to see what (if any) the charges are for "lift assists."

My county charges $175 per incident, and it was never covered by Mom's insurance - since she was not transported to a Hospital. We had to use them a few times and the expense added up quickly.

Sometimes, it was just because she couldn't get up from a couch or a chair, not necessarily a fall.

It's good to know this in advance, in case there is a fee.

Have you thought about a medical alert necklace for your Mom to wear where she can push a button and call you if she needs you?
Or be connected directly to a call center that will call you, or call 911?
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I’m sorry. Glad she didn’t get hurt. Going through this with my mom. She fell for the first time early yesterday morning since going into decline (she is 90). You don’t want to hurt yourself or her by trying to lift her yourself. If you call 911 you can ask for ‘elderly lift assist’ where they send someone to get her off the floor without full emergency services, unless she is hurt of course. That’s what I did. They are trained to do this. they were in and out very quickly.

Also you could ask her primary doctor for a referral for therapy preferably at home to help her strengthen and enable her to be keep as much independence as possible. They will know which exercises someone of her age can benefit from. Of course she has to be willing to keep up the exercises. They can also evaluate her home for safety.

The walker sounds like a good idea and therapists can also help with that.

Just some thoughts from my own experience. Wishing you the best in this challenging part of life.
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