Clay Moyle
Anybody know of a course I can take to learn how to fall down more effectively? Actually, as I understand it there are some physical therapists that teach folks how to fall properly. I think I might have to look into something like that as it seems to be happening to me more often these days. Just this morning I got out of bed in the darkness at 4:30 a.m. to go to the bathroom and crashed shortly after the journey began.
We have a four poster bed and I have to climb out and walk around the foot of the bed to make my way to the bathroom. I frequently bang into one of the two posts at the foot of the bed with a shoulder as I make my way to or from the bathroom in the darkness. This morning it occurred on the way to the bathroom.
I sleep on the left side of the bed and as I began the treacherous journey I cut the first corner too closely and banged into the post with my right shoulder. In a state of grogginess that was enough to send me stumbling off to my left toward a fireplace where I proceeded to trip over the brick flooring in front of the fireplace and began falling toward the mantel. I managed to throw my left hand up quickly enough to prevent crashing into the mantel, but that only shifted the direction of my fall to the right toward a small table that a DVD player and cable box sit on. I threw out my right hand to try and break my fall but all I managed to do was send a remote control flying and slow my decent as I banged face first into the side of the table, the area surrounding my right eye taking the brunt of the impact.
“I need some ice!” I blurted to my wife knowing the swelling would begin immediately. So, while my wife went downstairs to get an ice pack I pulled myself to my feet and went into the bathroom to survey the damage. Sure enough, there was a growing mouse under the eye and it was obvious I was going to have a pretty good shiner.
Surveying the scene afterward, I realized I was lucky the corners of that little table were rounded off downward as a sharp edge very likely would have ripped open the skin and I’d have been on my way to the hospital for some stitches.
I seem to fall more often these days and not as gracefully as I once did.
There was a time when I would actually fall on purpose. I used to be pretty good at taking offensive charges on the basketball court and would manage to draw an offensive foul or two per game. But, I haven’t stepped in the path of someone driving toward the hoop for that purpose now in almost ten years.
The doctor who performed my hip replacement surgeries gave me the green light to play hoops but told me taking offensive charges and bouncing off a hardwood floor wouldn’t be the wisest thing to do. I’ve had a number of opportunities to step in front of an opponent since to take offensive charges, but I’ve always remembered his words and resisted the temptation.
This past summer I was an assistant coach for a little league team and the head coach never showed the boys how to slide. It drove me nuts because there wasn’t a kid on that team that seemed to know how to slide. When I was a youngster, I was taught how to properly execute a hook slide and it took every bit of self-restraint I had not to keep from demonstrate that particular skill to the boys myself. But, once again, I thought of my bionic hips and figured hook slides probably weren’t something a guy like me should be doing any more. They’re going to have to learn that skill from someone else.
Still, while I’m much more cautious these days, it seems I find myself making more unplanned trips to the ground than ever before. It was just a few years ago I fell for the first time while taking off my pants. Yep, after executing that little maneuver without incident for over 50 years, I went to lift my leg out of my pants and lo and behold my decreasing flexibility finally caught up with me and I didn’t quite clear the pant leg. The next thing I knew I was falling over onto my side. Luckily, there was nothing in my path on the way down and it was a relatively evenly distributed landing on a soft carpeted floor.
Not long after that I was in the back of my pickup truck and placed both hands on the side and attempted to hop over sideways to land on the ground. Suddenly, I realized one foot wasn’t going to clear the side of the truck and the heel of that foot was going to catch on the side of the truck while my other foot landed on the ground.
Apparently, I didn’t hop quite as well as I used to. My life flashed in front of my eyes as I wondered if I was anywhere near capable of surviving a stretch like that. Remarkably, I didn’t tear anything, but that brought an abrupt end to my days of jumping over the side of pickup truck beds.
I’m beginning to gain a greater understanding of how so many older folks hurt themselves in falls.
I came across a statistic that said one in every three adults age 65 and older falls each year. Those falls can obviously cause injuries ranging from bruising to broken hips (one of my greatest fears now that I have two artificial hips) and head injuries.
I’m not quite that old, but at 56 and as a result of this latest incident I thought it might not hurt to see if there was any useful information on-line to draw upon in the interest of self-preservation. I found a couple of websites that suggested the following in regard to falling sideways, forward, or backward:
Side falls: The least injury is caused when falling to your side. It reduces the impact placed on your limbs, including your neck. It’s supposedly the best way to fall safely. The main advice when falling to your side was to keep your chin tucked to your chest at all times. I would think you might also want to bring your hand up to the side of your head to protect your head but it didn’t say anything about that.
Forward falls: When falling forward you are supposed to tuck your chin to the bottom of your neck and hold it there throughout the fall. You are also to place both arms up at a 90-degree angle to absorb any impact that would injure your face. Another website recommends slapping the ground with your entire palms and forearms to prevent breaking a wrist. In fact, the latter website say’s to avoid contact with the body, ending your forward fall in a modified push up position with only your toes and forearms touching the ground.
Backward falls: Once again the recommendation is to keep your chin tucked to your chest to avoid injury to your neck and try and keep your head from hitting the ground. Try to bend at knees and squat before the fall and slap the ground with forearms before your body hits.
Who knew growing older would be so dangerous?
