Skip to main content

Listening Time — 29:25



Falls are common among the older adults. However, cancer survivors experience falls more often than people who haven't received cancer treatment. Even worse, problems related to falls may be more likely and extensive in cancer survivors.

The good news, though, is that cancer survivors are not doomed to sustain such injuries in falls. In fact, there's much that can be done to reduce the risk of falling. Both education and taking proactive steps to reduce falls is important.

In this episode, physical therapist Elizabeth Hile discusses falls risk in cancer survivors. She shares about red flags to heed and how physical therapy and certain community resources can help.

Learn more about cancer-related falls.

Download the podcast on iTunes or Google Play or listen below.

Elizabeth Hile, PT, PhD, is a board-certified clinical specialist in neurology, assistant professor of rehabilitation sciences at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences (OUHSC), and director of the Cancer Rehabilitation Science Program at the National Cancer Institute-designated OUHSC Stephenson Cancer Center. Her active teaching, research, and clinical service focus is on cancer survivorship, specifically the detection and management of accelerated aging syndromes in cancer, including falls, sarcopenia, and neuropathy. Her team designed a prospective surveillance model for imbalance and falls in breast cancer survivors that they are now expanding to bone marrow transplant candidates, and survivors of gynecologic and gastrointestinal cancers. 

Is this content helpful?

Thanks for the feedback!

Thank you. Your feedback has been sent.


You Might Also Like...

Podcast

Benefits of Exercise Before and After a Cancer Diagnosis

May 21, 2020

What role does physical activity play in preventing cancer? Can exercise improve the quality of life of fatigued cancer survivors? Physical therapist Steve

Podcast

Telehealth: Helping Patients with Advanced Cancer Improve Quality of Life

Jun 20, 2019

Can patients with advanced cancer benefit from telehealth therapy to help maintain function and quality of life?

Podcast

Breast Cancer Journey: How a Physical Therapist Made Life Saving Decisions

Oct 3, 2018

When physical therapist Gwen Simons felt a lump in her left breast, it set in motion a series of decisions and scans that led to surgery.