Seniors represent a growing proportion of the population and are doing sports longer. But fitness and balance also decline with age.
Keystone / Arno Balzarini
Every year, 430,000 people living in Switzerland are injured in sports accidents, and the number of seniors over 65 injured has doubled in the last ten years, says the Swiss Council for Accident PreventionExternal link (BFU).
Seniors are injured especially while cross-country skiing or hiking in the mountains. One out of three people injured in these activities is over 64 years old, according to BFU statistics released on Tuesday.
The accident prevention body puts the increase in sports accidents among older people down to the fact that they represent an ever-growing proportion of the population and are practising sports longer, while physical fitness, steadiness and balance decrease with age.
More than 80% of fatal sports accidents involve men, according to the BFU. Fatal accidents occur mainly in mountain sports, which cost the lives of an average 53 people every year. On average, 129 people die in sports accidents each year.
Men are also the main victims of fatal road accidents (75%) and represent two-thirds of those seriously injured, which the BFU puts down to men’s higher exposure and risk tolerance.
Only in the area of daily life and leisure do women have more fatal accidents than men. Falls account for the majority of fatal accidents in this area and are mainly suffered by people over 64 years of age.
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