Bathroom use can become more difficult for seniors with time, making falls a greater risk. However, these falls are preventable, whether with a specially designed or better-organized bathroom.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 3 million seniors visit the emergency room yearly for falls. With the risk falls can have for older adults, you should know how to prevent unnecessary injuries.
How Can You Prevent Falls in the Bathroom?
The bathroom can lead to potentially dangerous falls, but you can improve your safety. Follow some of these tips to help prevent future injury:
- Make your shower or bathtub safer to use
- Prevent slipping hazards
- Organize your bathroom
- Invest in grab bars
- Consider senior living
Ways to Prevent Bathroom Falls for Seniors
As crucial as the bathroom is, it’s also a common area for injury. Spilled water, slippery surfaces, and wet tiles can be dangerous if you’re a senior.
Follow these tips if you’re looking to prevent falls in the bathroom.
Make the Shower or Bathtub Safer to Use
Stepping into a bathtub can be a hazard for seniors. They’re slippery, even when they aren’t wet, which can lead to a fall. Additionally, you have to lift your legs to enter the tub, which can be more difficult for seniors with limited mobility.
A walk-in bathtub helps older adults use the bathroom safely. You enter through a door on the side of the tub, reducing the risk of losing balance or slipping. Consider a walk-in tub to make the bathroom safer.
If you have a shower, getting in isn’t typically challenging—standing on slippery tiles is. Falls are always a risk for someone showering, especially as a senior. It’s hard to stay balanced with age, and the water in the shower can increase your risk of falling.
A shower bench can be a worthwhile investment as a senior. They allow you to sit in the shower to reduce the risk of injury. Make sure to do your research when getting a shower bench to get a quality product.
Avoid Possible Slipping Hazards
While there is always a risk of falling on wet tiles, you can reduce your risk by buying a non-slip bath mat. While you can’t completely remove this risk when you’re in the shower or entering the bathtub, placing non-slip bath mats around the bathroom can benefit senior safety.
These bath mats absorb water and cannot slide out underneath your feet. Place them around your shower, sink, and toilet to prevent falls. Spilled water and exiting the shower or bathtub don’t need to be a worry.
Organize the Bathroom to Avoid Unnecessary Risks
The bathroom holds many care essentials, like shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and hairbrushes. While everything needs its place, an unorganized bathroom is a fall hazard.
It may not seem like it, but having things low in a drawer or high in a cupboard can lead to an injury. Reaching down or up can place older adults off balance, causing them to fall.
Consider buying a shower caddy and organizing the rest of the bathroom to avoid unnecessary risks.
Use Grab Bars to Prevent Falls
Grab bars are a way to reduce falls in several areas of the bathroom. In the shower, a grab bar can help seniors stand up without worrying about falling. They provide an extra layer of safety on wet tiles.
Grab bars also have their uses for the toilet. Many people don’t think about toilet use when they’re younger, but sitting down and standing up becomes harder with age. Seniors may struggle to use the bathroom safely.
Installing grab bars directly to the toilet or nearby can assist as you sit down, use, and get back up after using the bathroom.
Consider Moving into Senior Living
While you can make many home improvements to your bathroom, this can be expensive. Not everyone can invest in home renovations, but senior living can provide a safe environment.
Senior living communities benefit the needs of residents. The bathrooms and apartments have safety-focused designs, and staff is always available to help.
Plan for the Future With Senior Living
The bathroom is a potential hazard, especially as you age. You don’t need to renovate your bathroom to prevent possible injury. Consider senior living if you’re looking for a safe environment where you can thrive.
Contact us at Meadowcrest at Middletown to book a tour or ask questions about our available lifestyles.
