Falls become a particular fear with age. What a young person shrugs off can leave an older adult with a fracture or a head injury. Overall physical function often declines sharply during recovery as well. Even a few days of immobility in a hospital bed can reduce muscle mass and impair walking ability. There is good reason why grown children feel a chill when they hear that a parent has slipped at home.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's recently released "2025 Injury Types and Causes Statistics" shows those worries are not unfounded. Last year, 98,615 injury patients visited emergency rooms at 29 hospitals. Among injury patients who were admitted, 52.9% were aged 60 or over, and among those who died, people aged 80 and over made up the largest share at 22.6%.
Falls ranked as the leading cause of injury. Their share has been climbing steadily amid population aging, rising from 29.6% in 2015 to 40% last year. Of the 29,065 fall patients, those aged 80 and over accounted for the largest share at 19.9%, followed by people in their 70s at 15.7% and their 60s at 14.8%. That means more than half of all fall patients were aged 60 or over.
Falls are especially dangerous for older adults because bone density, muscle strength and balance all decline with age, leaving bones vulnerable to damage from even minor impacts. If straightening the back becomes difficult after a fall, or if standing up from a seated position causes severe pain, a spinal compression fracture should be suspected. In this condition, vertebrae weakened by low bone density collapse flat because they cannot withstand impact or pressure.
Spinal compression fractures are not easy to recognize early, however. Pain subsides when the patient lies still, so many mistake it for simple muscle soreness. Missing the window for treatment can lead to a curved spinal deformity or chronic pain. If back pain persists for several days after a fall, it is best to visit a medical institution for an accurate diagnosis.
When pain is severe or the spine is unstable, options include percutaneous vertebroplasty, which injects medical bone cement into the fractured vertebra, and balloon kyphoplasty. Because such procedures and surgeries carry risks including cement leakage, nerve root compression, damage to surrounding tissue and fractures in adjacent vertebrae, the need for them must be weighed carefully. In practice, conservative treatment — bed rest, a back brace, medication and physical therapy — is often tried first.
That does not mean lying down for a long stretch is the answer. Prolonged bed rest can weaken the muscles and ligaments around the lower back and erode overall physical function. It is important to keep bed rest to a minimum under a physician's judgment and to return to daily life by moving gradually as the pain eases. Some patients choose integrative Korean medicine treatment to speed that return.
The effects of integrative Korean medicine treatment on spinal compression fractures have been demonstrated in research. According to a paper published by the Jaseng Spine and Joint Research Institute in the SCI(E)-indexed international journal Medicine, patients' pain scores on the numeric rating scale (NRS) fell from 5.75 at admission to 3.90 after treatment. Their scores on the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) also improved, from 48.92 — indicating severe or worse disability — to 27.67, a mild level. Higher NRS and ODI values indicate more severe pain and disability.
In treating spinal compression fractures, what matters is not only easing pain at the fracture site but restoring the patient to a state of walking and moving again. For older patients in particular, a single fall can reduce activity and sap muscle strength, feeding a vicious cycle that raises the risk of another fall. Treatment plans should account for the individual's bone density, level of pain, fracture stability and overall condition, with care that helps patients gradually regain physical function in step with each stage of recovery.
