I find it, with respect, a combination of misleading and deeply disturbing that you chose not to note the role of polypharmacy and the irresponsible pushing of drugs on the aging in the role of falls: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7339408_Polypharmacy_and_falls_in_the_middle_age_and_elderly_population

I find it deeply disturbing that you also did not note the fact that common OTC drugs and combining them with scripts is a major factor in falls, and pharmaceuticals themselves are the primary factor.

As an older person myself, an athlete and someone who blogs on fitness after fifty, I appreciate your material on exercising. But to fail to even mention what is clearly elder abuse among doctors, the high-profit business of pushing pills on the elderly who far more need better food and movement (as you say), is frankly, a touch irresponsible.

But that’s just me. It’s also the research I’ve been doing and the truth is simply unavoidable. Drugs cause falls. Remove the drugs, THEN add decent food and exercise, falls stop. Mobility, body confidence return. It’s about that easy, but it begins with stopping the insanity of polypharmacy for too many adults.

Older folks can hardly be expected to be successful in any kind of exercise program if they are drug-addled. That is the first and MOST important step towards vibrant health. STOP the toxic chemicals, STOP the irresponsible polypharmacy and STOP the pushing of unnecessary drugs on folks who do not need them. Most of us don’t. We need the right food for our age, activity and unique bodies. Then we need regular exercise. Pretty much those two would stop the need for most high cost, unnecessary toxic shit that doctors feed us. While you most certainly can’t write a single article that addresses all of this, to not even mention the primary role pharmaceuticals play in deadly and debilitating falls is, to my mind as a aging, active, well-informed and VERY healthy adult who rarely ever takes a drug unless absolutely necessary, is both misleading and frankly, not fair to your readers. Please consider in the future a slightly more comprehensive approach that does in fact name the evil elephant in the room: Polypharmacy. It’s elder abuse, pure and simple. Pure and simple.

The US and New Zealand are the only countries which allow television ads for pharmaceuticals. The constant images of models living vibrant healthy lives as though the drugs did that for them is not only an outright lie, those drug ads encourage susceptible and frightened folks to go ask their doc for this and that miracle drug. The miracle is the human body which, when treated with respect, asked to work, fed responsibly responds incredibly well at ALL ages. ALL ages, no matter what. Those who do chair aerobics, chair yoga and water work can attest that even if we are infirm or wheelchair bound, regular movement can and does make a huge difference in quality of life, awareness, competence, mental acuity and just about everything across the board.

Tai Chi is great. I prefer pushups, pullups, bodybuilding, running, running stairs, horse riding, kayaking, river rafting, hiking, skydiving, etc etc etc. Because I can. And I can because I don’t drug myself stupid, I challenge every pill a doctor tries to foist on me, and I will not go gently into that good night. Most older folks could do most of what I do were it not for the pharma ads trying to convince them that their magnificently designed bodies can’t work without X drug, whose side effects are a laundry list of additional ailments which doctors treat as new illnesses. It is breathtaking. And just plain EVIL.