Serious falls are a key reason many seniors undergo hip replacement surgery and other procedures that can lead to disabilities or even death. But new research shows vitamin D supplements, combined with exercises, help to prevent injurious falls in older adults.

For the study, published online in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, Finnish researchers tracked 409 women over 70 who took daily vitamin D supplements and exercised, The New York Times reports. They were compared to three other groups of women who were given a placebo without exercising; took vitamin D without exercising; and engaged in physical activity with taking supplements.

After two years, those who took vitamin D alone were 16 percent less likely to be injured in a fall and those receiving a placebo who exercised were 54 percent less likely to be injured. But the seniors who exercised and took vitamin D supplements were 62 percent less likely to be hurt.

The authors noted physical activity and vitamin D increase bone density, which can help prevent injury.

“It’s important to develop muscle power, because without muscle power, you can’t have good balance,” said lead researcher Kirsti Uusi-Rasi, a senior researcher at the UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research. “If you have low levels [of vitamin D], supplements are important, but if you have sufficient levels, more is not better.”