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Study: Carpet reduces fall injuries

LTC Liability Monitor, May 5, 2004

A small change in building design may have a big affect on resident safety, researchers at the University of Warwick in England told the New York Times. A two-year study suggested that nursing home residents who fell on carpeted wood floors were 80% less likely to fracture a hip as compared to falls on other surfaces such as concrete.

At the start of the study-which examined 6,641 falls and 222 fractures in 34 nursing homes-researchers expected carpeting to be a less stable surface that increased fall risk, the Times reported.

Researchers also conducted mechanical tests on the floors to determine how well they absorbed force. Click here to read the abstract of the study published in the May issue of the British journal Age and Ageing.

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