Afraid of Falling? For Older Adults, the Dutch Have a Cure
- 6 years ago
Afraid of Falling? For Older Adults, the Dutch Have a Cure
Today, 18.5 percent of the Dutch population — roughly 3.2 million people — is 65 or older, according to official statistics.
Like many people her age, Hans Kuhn, 85, worried that her daily routine —
and the ability to live alone — would end if she ever lost her balance and fell.
There was the “Belgian sidewalk,” a wooden contraption designed to simulate loose tiles; a “sloping slope,”
ramps angled at an ankle-unfriendly 45 degrees; and others like “the slalom” and “the pirouette.”
They were not for the children, though, but for a class where the students ranged in age from 65 to 94.
Yet falling courses — especially clinically tested ones — are a fairly recent phenomenon, according to Richard de
Ruiter, of the Sint Maartenskliniek in Nijmegen, the foundation hospital that developed this particular course.
Across the Netherlands, 3,884 people 65 or older died as result of a fall in 2016, a 38 percent increase from two years earlier.
“It’s not a bad thing to be afraid of falling, but it puts you at higher risk of falling,” said Diedeke van Wijk, a physiotherapist who runs WIJKfysio
and teaches the course three times a year in Leusden, a bedroom community just outside Amersfoort, in the center of the country.
“But there is also a very important social aspect.”
Indeed, seeing one another helplessly sprawled across the gym mats gave way to giggling
and plenty of dry comments, knowing jokes, general ribbing and hilarity.
Today, 18.5 percent of the Dutch population — roughly 3.2 million people — is 65 or older, according to official statistics.
Like many people her age, Hans Kuhn, 85, worried that her daily routine —
and the ability to live alone — would end if she ever lost her balance and fell.
There was the “Belgian sidewalk,” a wooden contraption designed to simulate loose tiles; a “sloping slope,”
ramps angled at an ankle-unfriendly 45 degrees; and others like “the slalom” and “the pirouette.”
They were not for the children, though, but for a class where the students ranged in age from 65 to 94.
Yet falling courses — especially clinically tested ones — are a fairly recent phenomenon, according to Richard de
Ruiter, of the Sint Maartenskliniek in Nijmegen, the foundation hospital that developed this particular course.
Across the Netherlands, 3,884 people 65 or older died as result of a fall in 2016, a 38 percent increase from two years earlier.
“It’s not a bad thing to be afraid of falling, but it puts you at higher risk of falling,” said Diedeke van Wijk, a physiotherapist who runs WIJKfysio
and teaches the course three times a year in Leusden, a bedroom community just outside Amersfoort, in the center of the country.
“But there is also a very important social aspect.”
Indeed, seeing one another helplessly sprawled across the gym mats gave way to giggling
and plenty of dry comments, knowing jokes, general ribbing and hilarity.