As April swings back around, many will have heads filled with the thoughts of chocolate easter eggs and playing two up on ANZAC Day.

However, the annual April Falls Month is an important reminder to keep falls risks at the forefront of our minds.

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, falls are Australia's number one cause of injury hospitalisation making up 42% of all hospitalisations.

Falls are also our number one cause of injury-related deaths, making up 40%.

The theme for this year's falls month is "better balance for falls prevention."  

"People think it's an inevitable part of ageing, and it's just not," said Ashley Wright, Western NSW Local Health District Falls Coordinator.

"Balance has a huge effect on whether you fall over and unfortunately we start losing our balance quite early in our forties."

Ashley says that reducing falls risks is often quite simple and easy.

"There are so many ways you can prevent falls and it's great if you can target the factors that are causing people to fall," she said.

"Making sure homes are free of clutter, and if you use a walking aid make sure you're using it right."

"Wearing appropriate footwear is important as well."

Getting moving on level surfaces while wearing supportive footwear is recommended.

However, many small towns on the western plains have their fair share of issues with inaccessible infrastructure that can pose a falls risk for the community.

"You want to make sure the frequently trafficked areas are free of trip hazards," Ms Wright said. "But the world isn't perfect and we can't rely on that, there's always going to be kerbs and uneven bits of concrete on paths."

"It's more about working on that balance and strength."

And unlike many health issues, Ashley said falls do not tend to be any more prevalent in rural communities than they do in metro or regional areas.

"Falls are a huge issue wherever you go, we've got an ageing population that's probably less active than we might've been thirty years ago."

"There are options for mobility scooters and other devices that can compensate for balance and strength now."

"Particularly through COVID, people had fewer options for group exercise so we had a lot of issues."

The NSW government's "Active and Healthy" physical education website targets strength and balance in ageing populations.

They say the most beneficial exercises for reducing falls are participating in the Stepping On program, or learning yoga, pilates or tai chi.

Yoga and other strenthening exercises are good for fall prevention.

The Stepping On program has been proven to reduce fall risks by 31% and is in essence a fall risk reduction how-to guide, educating people about balance, nutrition, safe movement, hazard reduction, and medication management.

"But because Coonamble doesn’t have enough groups running we really have to look at other options, if there are any groups that come along that focus on strength and balance, like tai chi or yoga, that would be great, even for older people."

"Going to your GP for a management plan is a great place to start, from there they can put you on to physios, occupational therapists, dieticians, etc."