Canes, walkers--and pets--cause falls
Canes and walkers--the very things used to prevent falls--are associated with more than 47,000 serious injuries each year among older adults, according to this study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
But there's another unexpected danger lurking at home: Pets. Each year, cats and dogs cause thousands of fall-related injuries among all ages, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
Some people (11.7 percent of injuries) get hurt while chasing cats, the study said. (It did not say why people might be chasing a cat, though I have a few ideas.) People also trip while walking their dog.
Other highlights from the study:
Nearly 88 percent of pet-related injuries involved man's best friend. Usually, this involved tripping over a dog (31.3 percent) or being pushed or pulled by a dog (21.2 percent.) Falling over a toy or a food bowl accounted for 8.8 percent of the injuries.
Women were 2.1 percent more likely to be tripped up by pets than men.
Children under 14 and those between ages 35 and 54 were most frequently injured by pets.
The majority (66.4 percent) of cat-related incidents involved tripping over the feline. (Hardly a surprise; our maddening cat likes to lounge on the stairs at night or get underfoot while we're carrying a child.)
In 2006, cats and dogs were accomplices in about 1 percent of the estimated 8 million fall injuries treated in the emergency department. This doesn't include injuries treated in a doctor's office or at home.