Take Steps to avoid Falls

With another round of winter weather anticipated in the Upstate of South Carolina, residents are encouraged to take steps now in order to avoid falls later. David Bright, Chief of Physical Therapy at Excel Rehab and Sports, says they see a lot of patients this time of year due to falls. “I think the biggest thing when we are looking at fall risks, as we approach some weather scenarios of slick weather any of us could be in that fall risk situation. So, one could thing to do and a good thing to have is rock salt around the house and whether you get it at your local hardware store, something that you can put out on your sidewalks and around that area that if we do get some precipitation that you can put it down to take away any of that ice that is out there and minimize your risk of falls. Because independent of how old you are, if you get on some of that slick ice and you fall down and you hurt yourself, the body responds the same way when we hit concrete. It is just a question of are you going to have a fracture or not. So, minimizing that risk is going to be paramount, anything we can do to prevent it we want to do that as well.” During the winter when ice could be a factor, always use hand rails, take shorter and slower steps and avoid slick areas that could be frozen.