Maggie McKay (Host): As we age, or even before, the possibility of falling is very real, and it can be very debilitating, depending on how severe it is. So today, Barb Brown joins us to discuss fall safely classes.

Welcome to Stoughton Health Talk. I'm your host, Maggie McKay. Thank you so much for being here today, Barb. Would you please introduce yourself?

Barb Brown: Yes. Thank you for having me. My name is Barb Brown, and I teach How to Fall Safely classes. I'm a ACE-certified personal trainer, and I've been practicing and teaching the art of Aikido, the martial art of Aikido, for about 40 years now. And that involves a lot of falling and getting up.

Host: And I, for one, could really use your classes, but tell us why we need fall safely classes.

Barb Brown: We all always need to work on our balance. But even with that, chances are we're going to fall at some point, either because of ice or uneven sidewalks, maybe a pet that is a tripping hazard. I have a cat that can be a tripping hazard. And we want to do it as safely as possible, have the least amount of injury possible. And most of us don't get a chance to practice falling. But if we practice, then we can try to get our body into a good habit so that when we do go down, when we can't think, we aren't going to think when we fall, our body has it already embodied to fall correctly.

Host: That's so smart. What is the duration of the class?

Barb Brown: I teach it as a four-week curriculum, one hour a week.

Host: That's great. So then people can absorb it instead of all at once. Is that why you split it up?

Barb Brown: I do. I break the four-week sessions into three separate sessions. The first one is mostly falling backwards, the second one forwards, and the third one sideways. And then, the fourth one is pretty much all review and answering questions.

Host: Barb, does anybody ever repeat the class?

Barb Brown: Yes. In my last session, I had three repeats.

Host: Wow. And so, why is that? Just sort of like a refresher class?

Barb Brown: Exactly. Even though it's good to be able to practice four weeks, once a week is really not enough. So, it's good to take it again and also part of working on our balance is always moving. Practicing movement, moving of some sort. There are lots of options in Madison. I know you've had lots of other people on the show as well. So, I really emphasize whatever you do, do something and don't stop.

Host: So true. My mom was 88 when she passed, but up until that point, she would always be taking yoga or balance classes or something to stay limber and keep moving because she didn't want to fall as well. Okay. So Barb, just this morning, I'm working out outdoors. It's a bootcamp class and there's an older lady in it. She's my hero and role model because she's like 75 and out there running. Anyway, she was talking about how she practices falling, because it's her big fear because she just had knee surgery. And you mentioned practicing falling, which I have never heard about in my life. So, tell us, how do we do that? How do we practice falling before it happens?

Barb Brown: Come take my class. there are a number of ways that you can practice. I teach this class at the Madison Circus Space, and I do that because they have crash mats. So if you're afraid of falling, it's a good place to start. But you can actually practice in other places if you don't mind going to the ground. And I would suggest starting either on the ground, so you could do it on a yoga mat. Certainly, at my Aikido school, at any martial arts school, there's a mat, places like that. Eventually, I hope to actually take this class to the martial arts school, but then there's not crash mats. So, that's the advantage of taking a class with me, is you get these great mats that are softer, and you don't have to go down quite as far at one time.

Host: That's awesome. How do you and your organization approach fall prevention?

Barb Brown: The class I teach on how to fall safely is really about the falling, but we do do a little bit with balance and with strength. And I talk a lot about what I referred to before, is you do need to keep moving. the quad strength is very, very important. Flexibility is important. In any way that you can do that, there's lots of ways. You could be doing tai chi, you could do yoga, you could do bootcamp, you said, running, all great things, as long as we're moving. And I just mentioned a few. There's many, many, many more.

Host: So, exercise, exercise, exercise. I was just walking around the park like I do a few times a week, same route, years of doing it. And sure enough, the same curb I step off of, somehow this time there was like a tiny, teeny, tiny little crack, and my knee just got wiped out. And I was kind of stunned and I didn't even know how to fall. My cell phone flew out of my hand and I couldn't get up for a minute, just because I was afraid, like, "Oh, I hope I didn't break anything." But I fell on my knee and my hip. And I thought, "Oh no, I don't want to break a hip." So if you are falling forward, is It best to try to brace yourself or what?

Barb Brown: It really depends on the situation. If you are going straight forward and you can put your hands out and land with the weight distributed through your whole arms and hands, your head up, we always want to protect our heads, that's great. And I will say that you're probably going to get scraped, but we're trying to avoid a head injury, broken wrist, broken hip, like you said.

The other thing is, if as you fall, you can roll, that's good too. And I want to comment on something you said, which is you fell and you took you a minute to realize if you were okay. That's so important. We don't want to fall and jump up, because we need to assess. Maybe we can't get up or maybe we have to get up very carefully.

And the other thing you said is your phone flew out of your hand. But you had a phone. And one of the things I say to people is in this day and age, we all should have some way to call for help. Some people have a watch. Some people have a pendant that they wear. Some people have a phone. I carry my phone with me. So if you do fall and you're injured, you can call for help. It's very important.

Host: So Barb, is there any benefit for somebody younger, say in their 30s or 40s, taking your class?

Barb Brown: Absolutely. Yes. In fact, I had a woman and a couple of sessions ago say to me, I want my 30 something year old kids to take this class. Yeah, anytime. The really young ones, probably they're a lot more flexible and heal faster. But the sooner we start practicing, the more we can embody this way to fall.

Host: Well, is there anything else in closing that you'd like to add that we didn't cover?

Barb Brown: Just if people are interested in the class, the registration goes through the Madison Senior Center. And you can call them, and I would love to see people moving, always moving, and anybody who's interested in practicing falling, I'd love to see them.

Host: It sounds like a great tool to have, just to know how to do it, just in case. So, thank you so much for this invaluable information. I'm sure it will help someone down the line. We appreciate your time.

Barb Brown: Thank you for having me.

Maggie McKay (Host): Again, that's Barb Brown. And to learn more, please visit safercommunity.net. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out our entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. I'm Maggie McKay. Thanks for listening to Stoughton Health Talk from Stoughton Health.