By Nicole Pajer, AARP Early diagnosis and treatment can help reduce your fracture risk. Bone density isn’t something most of us think about — until that moment when, out of the blue, we break something. “Probably 50 percent of women and 25 percent of men are expected to have an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime,” explains Joy Wu, M.D., associate professor of medicine and endocrinology at Stanford Health Care. But there are ways to know, long before you break a b

September is National Fall Prevention Month. The primary goal of fall prevention is maintaining and encouraging independence. Medical conditions that contribute to falls should be treated by the doctor. Vision and hearing should be checked regularly. Prevent Falls and Fractures A simple thing can change your life—like tripping on a rug or slipping on a wet floor. If you fall, you could break a bone, like thousands of older men and women do each year. For older people, a break

The rate of falls and the serious injuries and deaths from them has continued to increase over the last decade for elderly Americans. The rise in deaths from falls each year since 2007 has been dramatic. In the most recently available numbers from the CDC in 2016, fall-related deaths for people 85-and-older increased by more than 79%. While that group experienced the largest increase, the numbers are up across the board for elderly Americans age 65-and-older. Men, in particul