Hampstead Heath this morning was beautiful but treacherous and all of a sudden, as is usual with such things, I fell over on the ice. One minute I was walking along chatting and the next minute I was on my bottom as my wrist, forearm, shoulder and buttock took a bash. I slid sideways fast in the fall, thereby distributing the blow to several parts of my body and reducing its impact, entirely by luck. So I escaped joining the legions of people who, over the UK Christmas festivities, suffered a fall as the weather managed to concoct a particularly tricky combination of sub-zero temperatures and sharp showers.
Falls are an increasing concern as the population of many countries gets older and not just in periods of cold and frosty weather. Our ability to maintain balance is something we take for granted since we learned to walk but it relies on a series of complex skills and abilities which are subject to the changes which come with age. In elderly people falls can become a significant problem, causing injuries and fractures which need costly medical and surgical care and eventually threatening independence. Medical systems all over the world are feeling the expense and the clinical load which results from falls.
