By Sam Bennison

To Your Health

How to avoid fall damage during the winter

Dec 5, 2023 | 1:03 PM

PRINCE GEORGE—Icy weather is upon us and if you’re not careful you could end up slipping on a patch. Falls can not only cause physical injuries, but emotional damage as well.

People who fall once become quite afraid of going out and, doing things because they know of that risk and so they can either avoid doing certain activities and things that maybe they really enjoy doing,

Elly Park, UBC Master of Occupational Therapy – North cohort at UNBC

When travelling in the winter it’s important to pay attention and plan your trip.

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Think about the weather, is it slippery out there? Check of the weather chart and then you need to also plan additional time to get to where you need to go.The winter period is not a time when you need to rush or in a hurry to catch the bus. You need to build in some extra time so that you can move at a pace that is acceptable.

David Anekwe, UBC Master of Physical Therapy – North at UNBC

Anekwe recommends taking small steps to keep your balance when crossing an icy patch and if needed to wear ice spikes on your shoes to help keep your balance.

However even with the best precautions falls can still happen. When they do speaking to an Occupational Therapist can be great for recovery.

“When you have certain injuries to your body, of course we want to get you back moving and doing things that you want to do. So, Occupational Therapists often focus on meaningful occupations, meaningful activities that you want to get back to doing,” Says Park. “So, it could be exercises that would help to stabilize you even in the injured state so that you’d be able to compensate and be able to still do the activity or that you would physically improve your state.”