Trevor said one thing that helped his robot balance was lighter feet. He switched from Doc Martins to Vans. (He really did.) So lighter shoes might help.
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My friend Trevor Blackwell, who made the first dynamically balancing biped (http://paulgraham.com/anybots.html ) told me that a 6' man has to move his feet in ~400 ms to avoid falling. I wonder if sometimes, when old people fall, the root of the problem is not balance per se but speed.
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Makes me wonder if neuralink could help
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Often elderly people break a hip and fall which is distinct from falling and breaking a hip.
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Leg strength training (calf strength in particular) in older adults reduced falls significantly - because in a trip, the automatic calf pushoff gives you a significant extra few ms to regain balance.
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That presents a good argument for HRT (to prevent age-related accelerated musculature atrophy).
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or traction
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tl;dr possible no mono-causality in biology, though
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Yes. As you age you lose muscle mass, which includes your fast twitch muscle fibers. If you get knocked off balance you must recover quickly, or you will fall. Older folks are unable to recover quickly enough, and hence they fall.
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This is why weight training becomes more and more important the older you get. Preserve muscle mass, preserve bone density, prevent injury.
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