What physiological factors would typically increase Joseph’s risk of falling while walking outdoors?
Considering Joseph's age, he is likely to suffer from fatigue when walking outdoors and this might increase his likelihood of falling. Walking is considered to be a tiring exercise and Joseph walks for a long period. This increases his chances of getting tired and with tiredness, fatigue will check in. Fatigue results in Joseph's reaction and they might not be able to respond appropriately. A person is most likely to lose balance control when they are tired and this increases for persons who are elderly (Morrison et al., 2016). Therefore, as Joseph walks for long distances when his body is getting fatigued, he might lose balance and this might result in him falling. The mechanisms that are related to balance control are impacted, which increases their risk of falling. It is not uncommon to find there are uneven walking surfaces outside, and as the body gets tired its reaction to such surfaces decreases and this makes it hard for elderly persons to control their balance (Morrison et al., 2016). This is because their balance is affected and they will react quite slowly when tired as compared to when they are relaxed. Cyclists and other joggers or people walking can bump into Joseph making him lose balance. Joseph is old and with age, his balance is affected and any slight bump or attempt to avoid hitting someone will have a considerable impact on his balance. This is because they have a reduced reaction to situations due to age. Therefore, any obstacle that they have to maneuver through becomes harder especially if they have to do this fast. When fatigued, an elderly person will have an increased postural sway, which will increase their risk of falling. With increased walking, Joseph is likely to increase his walking speed as he goes along and this might impact their gait.
Walking is a risk factor for falls in elderly people. Older people are likely to reduce their walking speed which comes with age. This means that they will not be able to evade obstacles as fast as others would. Depth perception does also increase the risk of falling. As one gets older, their vision might get impacted and this will, in turn, affect how they see outside. With poor depth perception, they are likely to not perceive the ground properly and this will result in them making a misjudging their steps, which can result in their fall. Vision being slightly impaired will make it hard for him to see obstacles on the road as he is walking (Nyman, Ballinger, Phillips, & Newton, 2013).
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He might also see the obstacles when they are too close making it hard for him to avoid them. Concentration can also be impacted and one can lose focus on their walking. This mostly happens when they have to perform dual tasks like watching for traffic and crossing the road. As one gets older, they lose focus on things and they find it hard to pay attention to multiple things at the same time. Therefore, concentrating on foot placement and…
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…size of the kidney does reduce. This has a direct impact on the functioning of the kidney. The walls of the small arteries that flow into the glomeruli will thicken. This will decrease the functioning of the remaining glomeruli. The nephrons are impacted in that their ability to excrete waste products declines.
Aging causes the bladder to hold less urine as compared to a younger person. This means that they will be frequently going to the toilet to urinate. Even with the increased urination, the amount of urine that is removed from the bladder is less and with each bathroom break, there is an increase in the residual urine (Frangeskou et al., 2015). This forces an elderly person to urinate even more. There is also an increased risk of urinary tract infections. For this reason, elderly people will prefer to reduce their urinary intake in order to reduce the urge to go to the toilet. For Joseph, considering that he does walk frequently he is likely to suffer from dehydration that is caused by sweating.
Changes in the renal system have a direct impact on Joseph’s body and his ability to recognize thirst. If the amount of juice that Joseph takes is not enough to hydrate his body, he is likely to suffer from dehydration. This is especially true considering that he likes taking long walks and he also does exercise in order for him to stay in shape. While the fruit juice does give him some fluid in his body, it might not be enough because he only takes it when walking. Therefore, his….....
Cho, N., Hoshide, S., Nishizawa, M., Fujiwara, T., & Kario, K. (2017). Relationship between blood pressure variability and cognitive function in elderly patients with good blood pressure control. American journal of hypertension, 31(3), 293-298.
Frangeskou, M., Lopez-Valcarcel, B., & Serra-Majem, L. (2015). Dehydration in the elderly: a review focused on economic burden. The journal of nutrition, health & aging, 19(6), 619-627.
Morrison, S., Colberg, S. R., Parson, H. K., Neumann, S., Handel, R., Vinik, E. J., . . . Vinik, A. I. (2016). Walking-induced fatigue leads to increased falls risk in older adults. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 17(5), 402-409.
Nyman, S. R., Ballinger, C., Phillips, J. E., & Newton, R. (2013). Characteristics of outdoor falls among older people: a qualitative study. BMC geriatrics, 13(1), 125.
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