Afraid of Falling? For Older Adults, the Dutch Have a Cure.

LEUSDEN, Netherlands — The shouts of schoolchildren playing outside echoed through the gymnasium where an obstacle course was being set up.

There was the “Belgian sidewalk,” a wooden contraption designed to simulate loose tiles; a “sloping slope,” ramps angled at an ankle-unfriendly 45 degrees; and others like “the slalom” and “the pirouette.”

They were not for the children, though, but for a class where the students ranged in age from 65 to 94. The obstacle course was clinically devised to teach them how to navigate treacherous ground without having to worry about falling, and how to fall if they did.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/world/europe/netherlands-falling-elderly.html?