How to Keep Flooring Safe For Seniors, a 5-minute checklist

Keeping your senior safe from falls at your home or theirs starts with keeping them safe from slips & trips. If you have a loved elder, and you’ve ever wondered how to keep flooring safe for seniors, you’re in the right place.

Take the time to go through both your house and theirs with your “Eyes Wide Open” looking for potential floor hazards that could lead to a life changing fall. Get rid of all throw rugs, area rugs, electrical cords and mud or sand that was tracked in on shoes that might be loose on the floor. Remember, the number 1 floor enemy of seniors is area rugs. If you look at the underside of a throw rug you might (or might not) find some rubbery non-slip coating which is designed to keep the throw rug from sliding. But it can’t keep a throw rug from bunching up and causing a trip hazard.

A living room or any large room should have one continuous type of flooring throughout so there are no transitions or thresholds that will create a trip hazard. If you have any saddle thresholds between rooms it would be a good idea to remove/replace them so the floor transition from one room to another is as smooth as possible with no humps or bumps. As little as 1/4 inch change in the flooring height can cause a trip.

A Special Note About How to Keep Flooring Safe for Seniors in the Bathroom: The bathroom floor is a special surface and needs to have some texture to it so it remains non-slip even when it gets wet. The bathroom is the wettest room in the house. If you have tile in your senior’s bathroom you can add some non-slip strips to make it less slippery. You can buy rolls of this at Lowe’s, Home Depot or even on Amazon. There are also anti-slip treatments that can be applied to the floor to increase the coefficient of friction (make the floor less slippery). Wet floors are a dangerous slip hazard because it is hard for your senior to see where the wet spots are on the floor.

If you use any type of spray polish or cleaner, be aware of the over spray. The over spray from furniture polish can make your floor very slippery. Instead of spraying the polish directly onto the furniture, spray the polish into your polishing cloth, then wipe your furniture. This will leave your floors clean and dry. As a general rule, clean up spills and splashes immediately and keep your floor as dry as possible. While we are on the subject of cleaning up, picking up is also a very important daily chore. Anything loose on the floor can cause a trip hazard for your senior, like toys, dirt, extension cords and game pieces. Keep your floor clean & dry and your loved senior will have a much safer stay at their place or yours.

5-Minute Checklist to Keep Flooring Safe for Seniors
* Walk through yours & their home with your “Senior Hazard” eyes on
* Keep floors dry and clean
* Discard area or throw rugs
* Mark sloped or uneven floors with high visibility paint or tape
* Move electrical cords out of walking pathway
* Be careful when using polish and cleaners, avoid getting over spray on the floor

Why do Seniors Injure Themselves More as They Age?

Aging itself does not cause injuries. Everybody loses abilities and muscle strength with enough age. Seniors are at a higher risk of injuries because they tend to fall more due to aging muscles, declining eyesight or drug side effects. Just the fear of falling can affect a senior to where they are not as active as they once were.

Nothing good can come from a fall if you’re a senior. Seniors and their caregivers are interested in fall prevention because the risks are so great. Even though you cannot prevent all falls, there is a lot you can do to reduce the risk of a fall. If you can recognize a hazardous condition and avoid or correct it with your senior, you may have just prevented a fall.

Make sure your loved elder can see well enough to navigate unfamiliar places. If your senior is independent (Aren’t they all?) and is fearful that telling you that she/he can’t see well, they might not be honest about how well they can see. If you suspect that your senior’s vision is failing you can ask them questions to determine that your suspicions are true. Ask if they can tell you the time from a clock across the room. Or if they can see something going on outside.

Another common cause of falls is medication. Be sure to take stock in your senior’s current medical condition for signs of weakness, dizziness or illness. Review medications with them and visit with their doctor so you know which meds can cause dizziness or affect their balance. This puts you in a position to change the time of day that medications are taken or keep activities to a minimum if your senior must take medications with undesired side affects.

Falls are the third leading cause of unintentional death for the whole US population. But falls are the NUMBER ONE cause of death for those 71 and older. Statistics show that when a senior older than 65 takes a minor fall and nobody is around, they will most likely not tell anyone. The reasons can vary, from not wanting loved ones to worry about them or fear of losing their independence.

The good news is that a little exercise and diet goes a long way. Most types of physical activities are good exercise, like walking or just moving your arms up and down. You can move your arms sitting or standing, with or without hand weights. It kind of depends on your current activity level as to which exercises will help your senior the most. Steadying themselves with a chair helps with a lot of exercises because it makes your elder feel like they have a safety net to keep them from falling during an exercise.

Learning why your senior has fallen means that you’ll be able to figure out why your older loved one is likely to fall and take steps to help them. When you understand the reasons a senior might fall then you will be able to recognize hazardous situations and take precautionary steps to prevent them. Understanding what caused a fall can better prepare you to prevent a fall in the future. If your senior is having problems with a new drug prescription it won’t do you much good to add lighting to help your senior see better. Learn the “WHY” first then make adjustments to help your senior prevent falls.

Remember, seniors count on help from you, their trusted ally to help them avoid falls.