‘Scared to death of those stairs’: Addressing the fear of falling among older adults

After falling down stairs more than a dozen times, Ben Melancon, a former athlete now in his 70s, became afraid to use them.“I was scared to death of those stairs,” Melancon said in a press release from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. His final fall caused an injury that required nine stitches near his left eye.“That was pretty much the icing on the cake,” Melancon said.Melancon is one of many older people whose experiences with falling can lead to a lasting fear of losing their balance. But while this fear may lead to avoiding potentially dangerous activities, it can also increase their risk of falling by making them less active and reducing their strength and mobility.“When you’re not confident, you may avoid activities because you’re afraid you’re going to fall,” said Michelle Easley, a board-certified nurse practitioner at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center’s Fall Prevention Clinic. “That fear of falling is actually one of the biggest risks of falling.”A new national survey of 1,007 United States adults from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center found that 63% do not recognise anxiety about falling as a risk.