Why is Grandpa or Grandma Acting That Way?

Older people often have poor balance. If they fall forward they can strike their head on the ground and sustain a concussion, but may not remember the event. Afterwards they can exhibit cognitive slowing, poor memory, difficulties with word retrieval and other problems that family may wrongly attribute to Alzheimer’s. How frequent are falls among the elderly causing TBI? Very. According to a research paper published in October 2013 in the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association by Stephen Robinovitch of Simon Fraser University in Canada, some 60% of the hospital admissions of long-term care elderly patients were due to traumatic brain injury. Fraser found that sideways falls into the wall or furniture were the least common and that falling forward to the ground was the most common. He also said, “We were actually surprised that falling forwards is much more risky. You’re three times more likely to impact your head if you fall forward.”