How to Make Bathrooms Safer for Older Adults
Posted in Senior Health Care Tips
It’s an unfortunate reality that household falls remain the leading cause of injury-related hospitalization and death among Americans aged 65 and older. The Centers for Disease Control report that one in four older adults experienced a fall in 2020, and of those, more than one in three resulted in hospitalization or an inability to perform daily activities due to an injury sustained in a fall. 
Part of what makes fall prevention such a challenge is that these incidents occur during everyday life: getting out of bed, bathing, or just walking down a hallway are all activities an older adult has likely done thousands of times, but all it takes is a single item left on the floor or a few ounces of spilled water to cause a potentially life-changing injury.
With that in mind, this article considers one of the most common sites of a household fall, the bathroom, the common causes for falls in the bathroom, and ways to mitigate these hazards. Read on to learn more.
Why are bathrooms so hazardous?
Bathrooms are a common scene for household falls for several reasons. The most obvious cause for falls is the slippery combination of water, tiled floors, and the process of entering or exiting a shower or tub, but there are also more subtle factors at play.
Bathrooms tend to be compact, especially in a New York City apartment, so clutter often plays a role in elevating the risk of a fall. Furthermore, trips to the bathroom can happen at any time of day, and sometimes with a significant sense of urgency, meaning an older adult is likely using the bathroom in a mix of lighting conditions and possibly without considering fall hazards.
Finally, tiled floors, sinks, toilets, and tubs are some of the hardest surfaces in a home, meaning that if an older adult falls in the bathroom, they run a significant risk of hitting one of these surfaces and causing a more serious injury than in other rooms of the house.
Bathroom Fall Prevention Tips
- Improved lighting – Improving visibility can greatly reduce the risk of falls. When purchasing lightbulbs for a bathroom fixture LED lights putting out the equivalent light of a 100W-150W light bulb can provide better vision and contrast than incandescent bulbs. When looking to improve lighting, remember that people react to different levels of light differently, and the goal is to find a level of brightness that provides clear visibility, but not so bright that they can temporarily blind a user.
Another good strategy is to invest in a quality night light with an auto-detect feature so it turns on when the room’s main light is off. While this should never be used as the primary source of light (even during late-night bathroom trips), it makes finding the light switch much easier and safer.
- Grab bars and safety rails – For such a tight space, the bathroom requires a surprising amount of movement like getting on or off a toilet, or stepping into a tub or shower.
Grab bars provide an additional layer of support and should be located within arm’s length of these transitional spaces (toilet, shower/tub lip,) and set at heights where they can be easily reached by the home’s occupant.
While grab bars and safety rails can be installed as part of a full renovation, there are an increasing number of easy-install grab bars now available on the market.
If you or a loved one already works with an occupational therapist, it is absolutely worthwhile to discuss grab bar placement with them in order to ensure support is always within easy reach.
- Remove clutter – The edge of the sink, tub, and toilet are all common storage spaces in a bathroom, however these surfaces can get cluttered quickly and result in objects falling to the floor, forcing a resident to bend down on a cramped, potentially wet tile surface and greatly increasing their risk of a fall.
To reduce this risk, really consider what items need to always be near to hand and relegate other items to medicine cabinets or even an over-the-toilet caddy. When looking at storage solutions, aim for shelving that does not have swing-open doors, both to make it easier to find items, but also to reduce an older adult’s risk of hitting their head on an open cabinet door. Finally, make sure these storage locations are at an appropriate height – generally no lower than the user’s knees and no higher than the user’s shoulders.
- Add a shower bench and/or shower wand – A shower bench is a movable plastic stool with metal legs and non-slip feet that can have a huge impact on bathroom fall prevention. By sitting on the stool, even individuals with limited flexibility can easily reach parts of their body that would normally require significant bending and balance.
A shower wand is a detachable shower head and hose that similarly removes the need for bathroom gymnastics by allowing the user to more easily guide the flow of water around their body, allowing them to maintain solid footing while still enjoying a thorough wash.
5.Install a walk-in shower – The process of stepping over the lip of a tub to enter or exit a shower is one of the leading causes of bathroom falls, so replacing a traditional tub with a walk-in shower, though labor-intensive, can be a great long-term fall prevention solution.
- Thin, non-slip mats – A thick-pile bath mat can make stepping out of the shower feel cozier, but unsecured mats and rugs can easily slip, and thick material makes it harder to maintain positive contact with the ground, resulting in a recipe for falls.
When shopping for new bath mats rubberized, non-slip floor mats that won’t slide when stepped on.
- Raise the toilet – A common cause for bathroom falls is the act of lowering or raising oneself onto or off of a toilet. They tend to be lower than other seats, and the added strain of reaching this lower height can tax leg and back muscles, especially if the tiled floor is slippery. Furthermore, traditional toilet seats tend to be narrow and can contribute to the user’s legs becoming numb if they sit for too long.
Consider installing an ADA compliant toilet, which usually offer a wider toilet seat to reduce numbness, often include support arms to aid in rising/lowering, and are generally 17 to 18 inches higher than a standard toilet seat, reducing the most common causes for a fall near the toilet and greatly increasing an older adult’s overall independence.
- Improve water temperature control – A sudden increase or decrease in water temperature is a shock for anyone, but for those experiencing cardiovascular disease, a sudden change in temperature can cause significant heart strain, dizziness, or even a loss of consciousness.
A shower should put out water between 97 and 98 degrees Fahrenheit to avoid putting undue strain on the user. This fine-tuning may not be possible in a large apartment building, however, an anti-scald pressure-balancing valve can be installed into the bathroom shower handle. This device regulates the flow of hot and cold water, lowering the risk of extreme changes in water temperature.
- Be ready to ask for help – The reality of fall prevention is that even in an ideally-engineered home focused on safety, accidents can happen. If you or a loved one are beginning to feel unsteady, it’s best to be proactive and seek assistance before an emergency. Something as simple as receiving a fall risk assessment from your primary care physician or occupational therapist and maintaining healthy feet can greatly reduce the risk of falls.
If these interventions aren’t enough, it might be time to consider in-home assistance in the form of home health care. A home caregiver can go a long way towards restoring confidence by providing hands-on assistance when and where it is needed, and ensure that in the event of a fall or signs of heightened fall risk, help is there when needed most.
To learn how SelectCare helps, call us today, request a free in-home care guide, or read firsthand client experiences on our testimonial page.