Falling in the bathroom: the underestimated risk at home

The bathroom feels like the safest place in the house. Familiar, close, used thousands of times without thinking. Precisely for this reason, it is such an underestimated risk: nowhere else in the house — except on the stairs — do as many seniors fall as in the bathroom and toilet.

The numbers don't lie

Research based on figures from VeiligheidNL shows that between 2013 and 2022, over 22,000 seniors were admitted to the hospital after a fall in the bathroom or toilet. That's an average of six hospital admissions per day — for ten years, every single day.

And the consequences are significant. In more than half of these falls (55%), it involves a bone fracture; in almost one in five (18%), it's a brain injury. At an older age, a broken hip often means months of rehabilitation — and for many people, the end of independent living.

Why the toilet in particular?

Everyone knows the shower can be slippery. But why is the toilet, in particular, such a common moment for falls? Four reasons:

• Standing up is a top sport. Getting up from a low toilet seat requires leg strength and balance — precisely the two things that decline first with age.
• There's little to hold on to. Many toilets offer no support whatsoever. Those who push themselves up using the sink or windowsill are relying on things not designed for that purpose.
• It happens at night. Sleepy, in the dark, often in a hurry. A nighttime toilet visit is the riskiest moment of the day.
• It needs to happen multiple times a day. While you can skip a bath, a toilet visit cannot wait. Every single day, whether it's a good day or not.

The silent damage: fear of falling

A fall doesn't even need to cause injury to do damage. Once someone has fallen — or almost fallen — they begin to dread the toilet, consciously drink less in the evening, or are afraid to go at night. This fear leads to less movement, less movement to less muscle strength, and less muscle strength to a greater risk of falling. Thus, one moment of fright becomes the beginning of a downward spiral.

Seven measures that make an immediate difference

1. Light up the route. Night lights with motion sensors between the bedroom and toilet cost a few euros and eliminate the biggest nighttime risk.
2. Get rid of loose rugs. The bath mat is a classic cause of falls. Remove it or secure it with anti-slip tape.
3. Anti-slip in the shower and bath. Strips or a mat with suction cups.
4. Install grab bars. Next to the toilet and in the shower. Firmly in the wall, not with suction cups.
5. Increase the seat height. The higher the seat, the less effort it takes to stand up.
6. Take your time. Stand up in two steps: first sit on the edge for a moment, then stand up. Dizziness when standing up is a major cause of falls.
7. Support the movement. If standing up is consistently difficult, a device that guides the movement itself is the most complete solution.

When is a toilet lift useful?

Grab bars and a raised toilet seat help as long as most of the strength is still there. But if standing up each time becomes a struggle — or if it already happens with a sway, an unsteady moment, or with help from another person — then a fixed grab bar doesn't solve the real problem.

An electric toilet lift like the Comfort StandUp guides the entire movement: gently and evenly up and down, without a jolt. This not only eliminates the risk of falling from standing up itself, but also the fear of it — and precisely that gives people back the confidence to keep doing what they always did. Without renovation, fitting almost any toilet.

Don't wait for the first fall

Most bathroom modifications are done after an accident. Reverse it: the figures above are not a cause for fear, but a reason to arrange a few things this week. Starting small is fine — as long as you start.

Source: research based on figures from VeiligheidNL on fall accidents among people aged 65 and over in sanitary facilities, 2013–2022.