Failure to Anticipate Distances Leads to Falls – Smilecast 97

Injuries from falls traced to decline in ability to mentally estimate and anticipate stepping and reaching distances.

Professor Carl Gabbard, director of the Texas A&M Motor Development Laboratory, focused on “estimation of reachability” — whether an object is within or out of reach.

Gabbard explains that before actions are performed the mind simulates the action ahead of time and gives an estimate of the possible outcomes or consequences. You can easily relate that to visualizing a golf shot for example.

In older people, the ability to estimate their capabilities declines. Mostly they overestimate. That leads to falls.