Why Are More Older People Dying After Falls?

For a while, walking the dog felt hazardous. Earl Vickers was accustomed to taking Molly, his shepherd-boxer-something-else mix, for strolls on the beach or around his neighborhood in Seaside, California. A few years ago, though, he started to experience problems staying upright. “If another dog came toward us, every single time I’d end up on the ground,” recalled Vickers, 69, a retired electrical engineer. “It seemed like I was falling every other month. It was kind of crazy.” Most of those tumbles did no serious damage, though one time he fell backward and hit his head on