Nobody plans to fall over. It’s probably not something that’s on your mind, and you may think there’s nothing much to be done about it. However, British Judo suggests that falling safely is a skill, and they have launched their ‘Finding your Feet’ initiative as a way of teaching people to fall safely.

This is close to home for us given that our Managing Director and Chartered Financial Planner, Alasdair Walker, practices and coaches Judo, and also because of our ongoing sponsorship of Dan Powell, a paralympic Judo athlete.

We appreciate that this is not our usual subject, nor our area of expertise – but we think it really matters.

What do the numbers tell us?

Around one in three people aged 65 and over have a fall each year, and falls are the leading reason older people end up in A&E. In 2017/18 there were roughly 220,000 emergency hospital admissions related to falls among people aged 65 and over, two thirds of them among the over-80s. Fragility fractures, the kind a fall can cause, cost the UK an estimated £4.4 billion a year, of which about £1.1 billion is social care. Unaddressed fall hazards in the home alone are put at £435 million a year to the NHS in England.

Set that against how long we now live. ONS figures for 2021 to 2023 put healthy life expectancy at birth in England at 61.5 years for men and 61.9 for women, while total life expectancy runs well beyond it. There is a long, well-documented gap between how long we live and how long we live well. Most of us will spend time in that gap.

A single bad fall can bring that gap forward by a decade. It is rarely just the fracture – it is also the hospital stay, the deconditioning that follows, the stairs that stop working, the house that no longer suits, the holiday that gets cancelled, the confidence that does not come back. Some of that can be counted and some of it cannot, and the part that cannot tends to matter more.

The fear does its own damage

British Judo, working with the University of Hertfordshire and Anglia Ruskin University, makes a point about falls that most fall-prevention advice misses. The fear of falling is itself a risk factor. People who are frightened of falling do less. Doing less costs muscle and balance. Losing muscle and balance makes a fall more likely. The fear is not irrational, but acting on it makes the thing you fear more probable.

It is a quiet process. Nobody decides to stop walking to the shops. They take the car once because the pavement was icy, then again because it was raining, and a year later the walk feels longer than it used to. The cost is invisible until the day it is not.

Why judo, of all things?

Judo is unusual among sports in that falling is not the accident. It is the first thing you are taught. Ukemi, the art of breakfalling, comes before any throw. Beginners spend their early sessions doing nothing but hitting the mat safely, over and over, until the body stops flinching.

British Judo has built a programme for older adults on exactly that idea, called Finding Your Feet, delivered through affiliated clubs. A session involves controlled falls repeated 20 to 30 times, on mats, at a pace suited to the participant. The aim is twofold – teach the mechanics of landing without breaking something, and dismantle the fear by making falling familiar rather than catastrophic.

We are not going to tell you it is proven to cut your fracture risk by some tidy percentage, and we would be sceptical of anyone who did. What we will say is that the underlying logic is sound and matches official guidance. The UK Chief Medical Officers recommend that older adults do strength, balance and flexibility work on at least two days a week, alongside 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity, specifically to maintain physical function. Muscle mass and bone density start their natural decline from around age 50. Balance is trainable, but most people simply never train it.

What to do about it

We are not physios, so take the exercise question to someone qualified, particularly if you have a heart condition, osteoporosis, a joint replacement or anything else that makes contact activity a bad idea.

The wider point is simple. The years just after work stops are the ones people look forward to most. Travel, grandchildren, the project that has been waiting, the house you want to stay in. Every one of those rests quietly on being mobile and confident, and almost nobody gives that a second thought until something goes wrong.

Two sessions a week of strength and balance work costs very little and takes less time than you might think. Of everything on the list of things that get harder with age, this is one of the few that responds directly to effort.

If Finding Your Feet is of interest, British Judo runs an expression of interest form and will point you to a participating club near you: britishjudo.org.uk/get-started/take-part/finding-your-feet

Get in touch

This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.

Speak to your GP or a qualified professional before starting new physical activity, particularly if you have an existing condition.

All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.

Get in touch at hello@optimumpath.co.uk or call us on 01664 778899. You can also book a quick call directly through our website.