The pendant is for after you fall. This is for before. 1 in 4 adults over 65 falls each year — and for months beforehand the walking quietly slows and steadies less, if anyone's watching. Start with the free 3-minute STEADI screener below, or skip straight to the number: a 60-second read of the walking data already on their phone. Not a pendant. Not fear. Your number, and what to do about it.
Take the 20-second walk test — free Or take the free 3-minute fall-risk screener ↓A fall-risk score you glance at and ignore is worse than useless. This isn’t a tracker — it’s one number and the exact next step, across three doors:
Sources: CDC WISQARS injury data and CDC older-adult falls cost estimates. CDC falls data →
Check every box that applies to you or your parent. No right or wrong answers — just honest ones. Based on the CDC STEADI initiative used in primary care.
These questions are drawn from the CDC STEADI screening approach used in primary care. Check every box that applies — there are no wrong answers.
Your answers stay in your browser. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere — unless you sign in and choose to save your result to your own ComfortCard record.
Grab bars, non-slip mats, motion nightlights, firm-soled shoes — safety items like these can qualify for HSA/FSA when a clinician documents medical necessity. ComfortCard keeps the letter, the receipts, and this screening together on one record.
See falls gear on ComfortCardTheir iPhone has been quietly measuring their walking for months. HealthGait turns that into one number, free, in about 60 seconds — nothing leaves the device.
Get your gait numberThe co-op.care assessment is free and needs no account. Answer a few questions about who needs help and what kind, and it shows what fits the situation. It won’t match you with a caregiver: co-op.care is forming in Boulder, and its paid care hasn’t started yet.
Take the free care assessmentHoping an HSA or FSA can pay for care? That depends on the person and the care, case by case. A letter of medical necessity documents the need; it doesn’t unlock the funds. ComfortCard’s coverage check gives a straight answer, even when it’s no.
The strongest protection isn’t more worry — it’s having said, out loud and ahead of time, what you’d want and who speaks for you. It’s free, and it takes about 20 minutes.
Make the plan — talk it through with Vera → Read: before the fall — why money isn’t a plan →Seeing the family doctor about it? Six questions give you a plan and a one-page summary to bring, on a related site: clinicalswipe.com/caregivers
This screener is based on the CDC STEADI initiative used in primary care. It is not a medical diagnosis. Consult your primary care provider for a full fall risk evaluation.
Falls have identifiable risk factors — balance, medication side effects, home environment, strength. Most of those factors are changeable. The consequences of waiting are not.
without vs. with an exercise program
That is 15% fewer people falling, and 23% fewer falls overall (Cochrane review of exercise for fall prevention, Sherrington et al. 2019). The review found no evidence the benefit differed for people already at higher risk.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force gives exercise to prevent falls a Grade B recommendation for adults 65 and older at increased risk (JAMA, July 2024).
Their iPhone already measures their walking steadiness — a validated fall-risk signal. Our sibling program MotionSole reads it day over day and warns you weeks before their risk rises. The sensor's already in their pocket.
See continuous monitoring on MotionSole →Most fall risk is addressable. Start with the category that matches the screener results above.
Sleeping pills, benzodiazepines, antidepressants, opioids, antihistamines, and blood pressure medicines are among the medicines CDC's STEADI program links to falls. Do this: ask your provider or pharmacist for a medication review using the Beers Criteria — a prescriber may be able to stop, switch, or lower a medicine. Never stop one on your own. See the full drug-by-drug breakdown →
Loose rugs, poor lighting, no grab bars in the bathroom, cords across walkways — most environmental risks cause no symptoms until the fall itself. Do this: walk the home for 30 minutes and fix what you find. The 5-minute walk-through below shows exactly where to look.
Exercise programmes cut the number of falls by about a quarter (23%) and the number of people who fall by about a sixth (15%) — Cochrane review, 2019. The Otago Exercise Programme is one of the best-tested home versions. Do this, every day, next to a counter: 10 slow sit-to-stands, 10 heel raises, 10 side leg lifts on each side, and heel-to-toe standing while you brush your teeth. All four come from Otago; a physical therapist can prescribe the full programme.
Cataracts that reduce depth perception are correctable, and bifocals are a specific known risk on stairs — the bottom step looks closer than it is. Do this: schedule an annual eye exam, and if bifocals are worn outdoors, ask about single-lens distance glasses for walking outside — in a trial they cut falls for people often active outdoors, but added outdoor falls for people who seldom went out.
Numbness from peripheral neuropathy — common with diabetes — is a direct balance signal, and bare feet or socks on hard floors add risk on top of it. Do this: wear firm-soled, closed-toe shoes indoors, every day, not just for outings.
Isolated older adults move less, weaken faster, and fall more. Do this: ask your local Area Agency on Aging about A Matter of Balance, an 8-session group class. It is designed to ease fear of falling and keep people active, and trials show it helps with both in the months after the class; they have not shown a clear drop in falls.
Walk the paths your parent takes every day. These six checks catch most of the home hazards that cause falls.
Every loose rug is a fall waiting to happen. Remove them, or tape every edge with double-sided carpet tape. No exceptions. Rug tape & non-slip fixes →
Turn off every light. If you can't see the path from bed to bathroom, neither can they. Motion-sensor nightlights cost $10 each. Install one at every turn. Nightlights, pre-tax where eligible →
Try standing using only one hand. If it's hard for you, it's harder for them. Grab bars beside the toilet and in the shower cost $20 each and take 15 minutes to install. Grab bars →
Search "[medication name] fall risk." Blood pressure meds, sleep aids, antihistamines, and antidepressants all make the list. Bring the list to the next provider visit. The drug-by-drug breakdown →
If it slides, replace it today. A non-slip bath mat costs $10. A hip fracture costs $30,000 — and that's before the recovery. Bath safety gear →
Phone chargers, lamp cords, extension cords across walkways. Each one is a trip hazard. Route them along walls and secure them. The room-by-room checklist →
This is the five-minute version. For the full walk-through — every room from the bathroom to the outdoor entryway, each check with a priority flag and a fix — open the room-by-room Home Safety Assessment →
The CDC's STEADI program (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths & Injuries) identifies the modifiable risk factors with the strongest clinical evidence. Here is what each factor means — and what specifically reduces it.
4+ medications, or any sedative/hypnotic, antihypertensive, antidepressant, or anticholinergic. Each extra medicine is linked to a little more risk: about 2% higher odds of a hospital admission after a fall per additional drug, in a Swedish national study of adults 70+ (Morin et al., Clin Epidemiol 2019). Blood pressure medicines can cause a drop in blood pressure on standing; sedatives can cause drowsiness and confusion (CDC STEADI).
In one 93-person trial, slowly withdrawing psychotropic (mind-acting) medicines cut the rate of falls by 66%, though stopping them for good proved very difficult (Campbell et al., J Am Geriatr Soc 1999). A program helping family doctors review prescriptions lowered the odds of a fall by 39% at 12 months (Pit et al., Med J Aust 2007). Pooled trials of medication reviews on their own have not shown fewer people falling, so pair a review with other steps (Seppala et al., Age Ageing 2022). Ask the primary care provider or pharmacist for a medication review focused on fall risk.
Inability to hold single-leg stance 10 seconds, or Timed Up-and-Go >12 seconds. Reduced proprioception and slower neuromuscular response time make corrective steps fail when a stumble begins.
Exercise programs cut the number of falls by 23% and the number of people who fall by 15% (Cochrane review, Sherrington et al. 2019; 59 and 63 trials). Programs that challenged balance and added up to more than 3 hours of exercise a week had larger effects: 39% fewer falls (Sherrington et al., Br J Sports Med 2017). Tai chi: 20% fewer people falling across Cochrane's 8 tai chi trials. In one trial of 670 high-risk adults, a tai ji quan class had 31% fewer falls than a conventional mixed exercise class (Li et al., JAMA Internal Medicine 2018).
Loose rugs, poor lighting, lack of grab bars, high thresholds, clutter on stairs. Nearly 55% of falls in community-dwelling adults happen inside the home (CDC WISQARS 2023). The bathroom and bedroom are the highest-risk zones.
Home fall-hazard programs cut falls by 38% in people at higher risk, such as those who fell in the past year or were recently in hospital, but showed no effect in people not selected for risk (Clemson et al., Cochrane 2023). An earlier Cochrane review found these programs appear to work better when an occupational therapist delivers them (Gillespie et al., 2012).
More than half (54%) of 4,031 community-living adults aged 70+ reported fear of falling in a Dutch population study (Zijlstra et al., Age & Ageing 2007). Fear causes activity restriction, which accelerates deconditioning and paradoxically increases actual fall risk.
This 8-session group program uses cognitive-behavioral methods to ease fear of falling. In its original trial of 434 adults aged 60+, participants reported more planned activity and a greater sense of control over their mobility right after the class, and better social function and mobility range at 12 months; the authors called the effects modest, fading over time without booster sessions (Tennstedt et al., J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 1998). A Dutch version tested in 540 adults aged 70+ reduced fear of falling through 14 months, and fewer people fell more than once, but the number who fell at least once did not drop significantly (Zijlstra et al., J Am Geriatr Soc 2009). MaineHealth, which licenses the program, lists 595 organizations offering it in 47 states. Ask: "Does my county Area Agency on Aging offer A Matter of Balance?"
Uncorrected refractive error, cataracts, or first-eye post-cataract glasses adjustment all increase fall risk. Bifocals specifically impair depth perception on stairs — the bottom step appears closer than it is.
In women over 70, cataract surgery on the first eye within about a month, instead of after a year's wait, cut the rate of falls by 34% over 12 months (Harwood et al., Br J Ophthalmol 2005). Medicare Part B can cover cataract surgery and a yearly diabetic eye exam for people with diabetes, but not routine eye exams for glasses (Medicare.gov). For regular multifocal wearers, single-lens distance glasses for walking outdoors cut falls in people often active outdoors but increased outdoor falls in people who seldom went out (Haran et al., BMJ 2010).
Sources: CDC STEADI, Medications Linked to Falls fact sheet; Cochrane Reviews: Sherrington et al. 2019 (exercise), Clemson et al. 2023 (home fall hazards), Gillespie et al. 2012 (fall prevention interventions); Sherrington et al. Br J Sports Med 2017; Li et al. JAMA Internal Medicine 2018; Campbell et al. J Am Geriatr Soc 1999; Pit et al. Med J Aust 2007; Seppala et al. Age Ageing 2022; Morin et al. Clin Epidemiol 2019; Tennstedt et al. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 1998; Zijlstra et al. J Am Geriatr Soc 2009; Zijlstra et al. Age Ageing 2007; Harwood et al. Br J Ophthalmol 2005; Haran et al. BMJ 2010; Medicare.gov coverage pages. Effect sizes from peer-reviewed trials, reviews and population studies of older adults living in the community. Individual results vary.
The screener above is the entry point. Two companion references cover the rest — the clinical evidence behind it, and the program directory for acting on it.
Special tests, cutoffs, and evidence-based exercise dosing — TUG, Berg, 30-second chair stand, SPPB, gait speed, plus Otago, LiFE, and Sherrington’s dose-response parameters. Built for the clinician doing the evaluation.
Otago, Tai Chi, and A Matter of Balance — the evidence-based programs that reduce falls, plus home-modification funding and tools for healthcare providers.
Telling a parent they are a fall risk feels like telling them they are old. Most families avoid it until after something happens. By then the options are narrower.
A fall is not bad luck. It is a preventable event with identifiable risk factors — balance, medication side effects, home environment, strength. Most of those factors are changeable.
Frame it as your worry, not their weakness. Most parents will say yes to that. The assessment above takes three minutes. Start there.