You step onto a chair to reach something in the kitchen, hurry through the bathroom after a shower, or spend an afternoon working in the yard. These activities probably don’t seem particularly dangerous, especially if you’ve been doing them for decades. But for adults over 65, ordinary routines can sometimes lead to injuries serious enough to require emergency medical care.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, falls among adults ages 65 and older accounted for approximately 4.5 million emergency department visits and more than 43,000 deaths in 2024. Falls remain the leading cause of injury-related death among older Americans, but many common hazards can be reduced through relatively simple precautions. Here are seven situations worth paying closer attention to.
