On Saturday, October 21, 2017 at 10:55:13 PM UTC-7, John B. wrote:
On Sat, 21 Oct 2017 13:02:45 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Saturday, October 21, 2017 at 7:19:19 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-10-20 18:04, John B. wrote:
On Fri, 20 Oct 2017 11:44:37 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2017-10-20 08:31, wrote:
On Friday, October 20, 2017 at 12:23:57 AM UTC-7, John B. wrote:
On Thu, 19 Oct 2017 12:06:57 -0400, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:

Per John B.:

As I told Joerg, just wash your feet :-)

I don't buy it when it comes to carpets.

Bare floors, maybe... but feet will still be damp after "Washing"
and that will affect the carpet over time.

Quotes because I strongly suspect "Washing" = "Quick rinse with
clear room-temperature water".

Well, if you have polished mahogany floors, or terrazzo, floors in
your abode and you wash your feet before you enter you won't have
problems with your carpet.

Carpets also add to the servants work load with all that vacuuming
and frequent visits by the carpet cleaning company. They will
applaud you when you get rid of them.

I have come to the conclusion that hardwood floors with area rugs are
much better than wall to wall carpets. These wall to wall crap
accumulators are nothing but trouble and for no added comfort.


That perception will change when our bodies start giving out and we need
canes or walkers. Or when Fido and Fluffy duke it out and the area rugs
go sailing for the impteenth time.

Well, I'm 85 (this month) and my wife is 72 and so far we haven't had
any problems... terrazzo floors on the ground floor and polished
mahogany on the second.

No canes or walkers yet...


There is the difference. You guys are still quite healthy and in your
case probably in part due to cycling. We visit nursing homes a lot as
volunteers but it's the same at church and other places. Falls of frail
people mostly take places where there is no carpet. Outside on the
concrete, inside on tile, on marble and on linoleum. Because all that
stuff provides low friction and thus almost no grip once a situation
gets just a tad out of balance.

When you take a look at an indoor walker they are usually the kinds
without brake levers. Two wheels and small gliders in back. Most people
stick tennis balls over the back posts to improve friction but those do
not provided any meaningful friction on slick surfaces. Area rugs are
the worst floor covering for those folks. One slight tangle into the
edge of a rug and there might be a nasty fall.

I'll have to think about that. I have virtually no balance. Especially when the medication kicks in.


Medicine aside you can improve your balance by doing exercises. Try
standing on one leg and swing the other back and forth. Then switch
legs.

Initially you probably can't do that for a minute without staggering
but after a few weeks you will find that you are nearly as stable on
one leg as you are on two.



But under normal circumstances I am losing my balance in the house all the time. I have wall-to-wall carpeting because the damn things are always dirty and in need of commercial cleaning. I solved this before by putting area rugs over the top of them but after my ex-wife decided she was better off with than without me she also decided that she was running everything. Which was (confidentially) what caused everything in the first place. Because running everything means doing nothing.

I have the cabinets in the kitchens and the heavy bed frame in the bedroom and know exactly where they are at all times and can catch myself from falling by hooking a foot under these overhangs. I can't feel my feet but I can feel when I stop tipping over.

I'll give that a try but I don't have much balance because of the medication destroying my ability to distinguish from up and down as well as making the entire forward half of my feet without feeling. For a while I couldn't even walk bare footed on a hard surface.