This month I’ll turn 68. Is that old? Are these sayings true?

“Age is just a number.”

“You’re as young [or old] as you feel.”

“Mind of matter.”

To me, these make for good “motivational” or “inspirational” posters — those posters often seen in offices to supposedly get under-achieving people become super stars — I’ve never seen them work however.

I prefer posters like this one but have never seen on in an office 🙂

The past couple of years I’ve fallen several times while backpacking and perhaps this is due to getting older; so the question might be asked,

“Should I do something differently or is it time to consider giving up backpacking, especially since I usually hike alone.”

Fortunately none of my falls have been serious. But the fact is: older people (defined by the CDC, aka The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as 65 or older) do fall — a lot. The CDC says that

… more than one in four older people fall each year” and “Falling once doubles your chances of falling again.

Wow, those are some scary statistics! Not only that, here are some additional stats to give pause:

• One out of five falls causes a serious injury such as broken bones or a head injury.
• Each year, 3 million older people are treated in emergency departments for fall injuries.
• Over 800,000 patients a year are hospitalized because of a fall injury, most often because of a head injury or hip fracture.
• Each year at least 300,000 older people are hospitalized for hip fractures.
• Falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries.

So how do we put these millions and hundreds of thousands of numbers into perspective? Well, last year 72,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses.

Conditions  Leading to Falls

The CDC outlines some of the more common risk factors and most falls are due to:

• Lower body body weakness
• Vitamin D deficiency
• Difficulties with walking and balance
• Use of some medicines
• Vision problems
• Foot pain or poor footwear
• Home hazards
• More than 95% of hip fractures are caused by falling, usually by falling sideways

This is a lot of information to process.

Some thoughts on the conditions leading to falls

• Lower body weakness is usually due to inactivity, so more hiking and backpacking would seem to be a good thing!
• Vitamin D deficiency is often due to a lack of adequate sun exposure, so more hiking and backpacking would seem to be a good thing!
• I don’t use medicines, even if a doctor prescribes them.
• I started wearing glasses almost 30 years ago, but am now finding my vision is getting better by not wearing them and exercising my eyes — however my vision has never been what one would call poor. The big lesson here, at least for me, is that night hiking should be avoided whenever possible.
• If we are out walking or backpacking there are no “home” hazards to contend with — however there are often a lot of things in the backcountry to trip over!

Some of the other “conditions leading to falls do require my attention.

Because I normally hike alone and usually avoid trails, preferring to travel cross-country, I’ve spent some time analyzing some of my falls and pondering possible solutions.

All but one of my falls while backpacking have happened when I was walking with others. Pretty simple, I wasn’t paying close attention to the hiking activity itself and a focus of my environment. When hiking alone, I’m much more careful because a fall off-trail somewhere without cell phone coverage (I don’t bring one of those contraptions anyway) could be serious or even fatal. And I’m not going to haul around one of those sattlelite communication devices for several philosophical reasons. Perhaps when I actually do get old I’ll reconsider.

Most of my falls have been due to footwear. Light minimalist shoes that didn’t have sufficient traction for the terrain, and often shoes whose soles were worn flat. So I am transitioning  back to the heavier Salomon XA Pro 3D trail running shoe, which I know work extremely well for me.

The CDC says many injuries are due to falling sideways; sideways falls have been the most common for me. Part of this is because my reflexes are not as quick as the once were, not what one would call a balance problem. Perhaps we can say it is a problem keeping my balance due to slow reflexes. Many people might recommend using trekking poles to help with “balance.” I’ve tried them and don’t like them, especially off trail where there isn’t a well-worn footpath to travel over; if fact they can become a liability and many hikers like me just strap them to their packs in this kind of terrain. However I am again, bringing a hiking staff with me more often. Seems that one pole works better than two, and sometimes no pole is best. This is kind of funny. Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s a hiking staff was ridiculed by most hikers, while no one used trekking poles. Today trekking poles seem to be part of the “backpacker’s” uniform. I’m not against trekking poles, there are some advantages for some people. Use them if they work for you, but don’t use them just to follow the crowd.

The bottom line is older people are more likely to be injured in a fall. Knowing this and being cautious enough to work at not falling is infinitely better than not hiking at all.