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Comment by Aeolun | Hacker News Reader

It’s not the fall. It’s the enforced idleness afterwards.

Yeah. My Grandmother lived a pretty long time but she had a boarder named Lillian who at 95 was still walking 2 or 3 miles to the store every day. One day her daughter gave her a lift and managed to get into a fairly minor accident. (My Dad claimed that the daughter was herself too old to be driving.)

Anyhow Lillian broke an ankle. Went to hospital. And there was some complication. And then another. And 2 weeks later she's passed away, never having gotten out of the hospital.

I think people - especially when you're old - are more like sharks then not. If you don't keep moving nothing good happens.

Old family wisdom - "People fall at every age. But getting back up gets harder every year, and the time comes when you can't."

I sometimes wonder if VR is ever successful, perhaps in the 2050s, some of the idleness will be less of an issue.

The lack of movement rather than rich stimulation might remain the issuem I look forward to a study if there hasn't been one yet.

Muscles atrophy without consistent activity. VR can't replace that for someone with a broken hip / leg / spine. The whole cardiopulmonary system weakens with age, as does the immune system and healing takes longer, so an injury from a fall is much harder on the body than an equivalent injury to a younger person.

The comparison is between active VR participation (not simply watching TV in VR) and passive activities like crosswords during the recovery period of reduced mobility.

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