Defying Gravity: Strategies for Reducing the Impact of Falls - AAST Virtual Grand Rounds

Injuries from falls and their sequelae represent a significant source of morbidity and mortality. This impact is predominantly felt by patients with pre-existing health conditions and poor health. For these patients, comorbidities, frailty, use of anticoagulation, and other factors result in the development of severe injuries after relatively low-impact falls. Many strategies exist to counter the negative effects of falls-both thinking about how to reduce the incidence of falls by engaging in fall prevention strategies and techniques for reducing trip hazards or finding ways to minimize the potential impact of falls on vulnerable populations. These efforts can be combined to create local and regional fall-prevention networks, which have been highly successful and effective in addressing fall risk. This publication summarizes the contents of an American Association for the Surgery of Trauma's Virtual Grand Rounds that highlighted the epidemiology of falls, the effects of falls, and strategies for countering these effects at individual and locoregional levels.