Pat Taub
GUEST POST by LISA SAVAGE
Years ago, before I was within range of being considered an elder, I read in a geriatric doctor’s essay that his first move with a new patient was to examine her feet thoroughly. Because staying on one’s feet is foundational to maintaining good health for elders — a fall often precipitates a cascade of difficulties like a broken hip and a long hospitalization.
Besides that, the doctor noted that many older people (like me at 67) take prescribed drugs with side effects of dizziness that contribute to the risk of taking a tumble. And I have friends with chronic foot problems who’ve fallen and really injured themselves, cracking a pelvis or a tailbone, sometimes having to learn how to walk again.
Fast forward to last month when I fell twice in as many weeks, luckily not injuring myself more than skinned knees and wounded pride. My feet are still healthy and in working order, but my falling problem both times hinged on footwear.
In the first incident I arrived on a hot day to a park where I planned to conduct person-on-the-street style interviews. Because it was so warm I was reluctant to keep wearing sneakers and remembered that I had an old pair of flip flop type leather sandals in the trunk of my car. I slipped them on and met up with the young person who is the director for a local issues tv show we produce.
As I stepped onto a low grassy incline to reach a potential interviewee, the slippery soles of my sandals betrayed me and down I went. You can imagine me sort of sliding into base if the base were slightly downhill. In a dress. No one made a big fuss so no harm, no foul — right?
The second time was both more dramatic and more embarrassing: I tripped getting off a plane with my family and fell to my knees on the carpet. Unfortunately, both my shoes came off and there I was on the ground, holding up a line of desperate to depart passengers.
The author boarding the plane where she had an embarrassing disembarking fall
I had jammed my sneakers under my backpack below the seat in front of me and loosened my shoelace which then came untied as I exited the plane. When I stepped on it, I tripped. I might have managed not to fall, but I have a bad habit of mashing down the backs of my sneakers and turning them into slip-ons. I kept this up after returning from a few years in Japan. My sister has often nagged me about it as being potentially hazardous. But did I listen?
After I had gotten reshod and fled the gate area the 6-year-old I was travelling with said, “Grandma, why don’t you wear your shoes the right way?” Why, indeed.
While thinking this over I remembered that last winter I slipped in my yard, hyperextending one knee as I went down on the other. I was in my driveway wearing Ugg-type boots I use as house slippers, warm but with indoor soles. Why I went outside without changing into proper winter boots with treaded soles, I can’t remember.
A fall on the ice similar to what the author experienced
What I do remember is the tendonitis that resulted from that accident and having to keep my knee wrapped with a compression bandage on and off for weeks until it healed.
At this point I think the universe is sending me the message that staying upright is about feet, yes, but also about shoes. So far, I’ve been lucky but since fortune favors the prepared. I plan on slowing down, considering my footwear choices more carefully, and then wearing them properly.
Unfashionable, sensible footwear recommended for older adults
Sometimes older wisdom means facing up to the fact that things aren’t like they used to be and acting accordingly. And we’re never too old to learn from our mistakes.
Lisa Savage is a retired teacher, who continues post-retirement, to engage in organizing around pushing back on genocide and militarism. She blogs at: went2thebridge.substack.com
