How many of us fall/ and falls in general

Ruthanne

Ruthanne

Caregiver
Location
Midwest
I've been anxious to get the physical therapy for my pinched nerve. Then I fell again last night. I shouldn't have gone down the steps because the pain and unsteadiness of my legs.

But the delivery person left my dinner down in the lobby 😕 So , I got my food and attempted to go up the stairs . I didn't make it to the stairs and my balance was very bad from having a pinched nerve. I missed the step and was dizzy and fell backwards right on my rear end .

I'm starting to feel how I was effected from falling and hitting my Tailbone that I already had a pinched nerve in that area at the same time.

Well, we'll see what's next....my spirits are good now though and I am trying to still enjoy life I'm going to watch a movie on Prime.

Anyone else care to talk about what happened to them?
 
Very sorry to hear that you fell, Ruthanne.
😕
It's such a sudden, shocking, and helpless feeling. 😖

And that's frustrating, about your delivery!

But I'm glad that you've found a way to feel less miserable about it. !

Physical therapy, I hope will help you with the pinched nerve;

And from my experience,
physical therapy can help with reducing the risk of falls. In numerous ways.
I also learned ways of helping myself back up, if i do fall, which was one of my goals.
 
Kaila said:
Very sorry to hear that you fell, Ruthanne.
😕
It's such a sudden, shocking, and helpless feeling. 😖

And that's frustrating, about your delivery!

But I'm glad that you've found a way to feel less miserable about it. !

Physical therapy, I hope will help you with the pinched nerve;

And from my experience,
physical therapy can help with reducing the risk of falls. In numerous ways.
I also learned ways of helping myself back up, if i do fall, which was one of my goals.
Click to expand...
Hi @Kaila . I just got up from a little 😴 You described very accurately what it's like to fall. I have to wait 20 more days for Physical therapy. They must be busy there at the YMCA where they have the PT here in my city.

I might ask my doctor if they can do an MRI .

I just want to know precisely what is going on in my tailbone area. I just feel I should have that done. And I think more things could be better to find out what is happening.

This is about 4 or 5 times I've falled since I moved here. I've been here 14 years.

Thanks Kaila
 
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Check in with a physiotherapist. You may need a referral from a general practitioner MD.
They can order an Xray of your lower spine if you don't already have one.

I've found it very helpful on two occasions to have physiotherapy - once for a neck that was so painful that I could not turn sideways at all and another time when my knee was quite painful. The results after a course of about 6 visits for each was pretty amazing.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.
 
I don't know if it is different there but, I can ask my GP for a slip referring me to the local hospital for an x-ray, I can go to the x-ray dept at any time, produce the slip and get the x-ray done straightaway. I think it is definitely worth asking your GP to investigate the problem with your tailbone.

I hope I am not tempting fate by saying that I have not had problems with falls. Most of my falls have been because I was rushing around. I once flew over a row of plastic bin bags which I had lined up along the hallway wall, ready for collection. The phone rang, I dashed to answer it, tripped over the first bag, flew over the rest and only came to a stop because I collided with the wall and knocked myself out!

Have a restful day x
 
Ruthanne said:
I've been anxious to get the physical therapy for my pinched nerve. Then I fell again last night. I shouldn't have gone down the steps because the pain and unsteadiness of my legs.

But the delivery person left my dinner down in the lobby 😕 So , I got my food and attempted to go up the stairs . I didn't make it to the stairs and my balance was very bad from having a pinched nerve. I missed the step and was dizzy and fell backwards right on my rear end .

I'm starting to feel how I was effected from falling and hitting my Tailbone that I already had a pinched nerve in that area at the same time.

Well, we'll see what's next....my spirits are good now though and I am trying to still enjoy life I'm going to watch a movie on Prime.

Anyone else care to talk about what happened to them?
Click to expand...
Oh no, Ruthanne. I hope you're ok and didn't worsen your pinched nerve.
I've become very wary of falling and always try not to but sometimes I get complacent and have had some close calls.
 
I'm sorry to hear this Ruthanne. I had 4 or 5 bad falls close together about 10years ago (not related to pinched nerves). My daughters noticed I was shuffling my feet on the beach and I could see the marks in the sand behind me. So no denying it.

I had to teach myself to pick up my feet. I literally exaggerated it by marching (not in public lol) until I was picking up my feet naturally. It worked and haven't fallen since.
 
Falling can happen for a lot of reasons. When my hips act up my balance gets iffy. Same for a back pain. Some with edema/swollen feet can't feel the ground under them and wind up tripping or stumbling. Every one assumes it's all about ear fluids or lack of awareness but medical issues from the waist down can cause a lot issues including falling.
 
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Ruthanne said:
I was careful but got dizzy and off balance, I didn't expect that to happen.
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Hopefully, they sat your order on a table or something. Bending down to pick it up could have caused the dizzies, including delayed dizziness.

Be sure to let your physical therapist know about this fall. They'll want to get images to be sure they don't re-injure you or worsen an injury the fall might've caused. In fact, it would be good to request images now, so your therapy isn't delayed.
 
The tell here, is dizziness. This is what our docs watch for as we age. I know mine keeps asking me about falling. When I say yes, he asks why. My own stupidity getting my feet tangled, stepping in a hole I dug, catching my foot on something. Good he says (just kidding) he's looking for dizziness or feeling of fainting.
 
hearlady said:
Oh no, Ruthanne. I hope you're ok and didn't worsen your pinched nerve.
I've become very wary of falling and always try not to but sometimes I get complacent and have had some close calls.
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I too am concerned about falling as I age. It's easy to become complacent since I haven't fallen yet. I do have exercises in my daily fitness routine that help improve my balance. I get them from Grow Young Fitness at FBook. Deron Buboltz is here to help seniors improve their quality of life through exercise. These are some of my favs: 4 moves that you can do everyday to help improve balance risk.
Lara said:
I'm sorry to hear this Ruthanne. I had 4 or 5 bad falls close together about 10years ago (not related to pinched nerves). My daughters noticed I was shuffling my feet on the beach and I could see the marks in the sand behind me. So no denying it.

I had to teach myself to pick up my feet. I literally exaggerated it by marching (not in public lol) until I was picking up my feet naturally. It worked and haven't fallen since.
Click to expand...

Jules said:
I’m trying to remind myself to pick up my feet, especially when on sidewalks. There are so many uneven surfaces.
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I have noticed lightly scraping the floor/ground occasionally with one of my feet. I will remember and practice picking up my feet when I walk.

I think I also need to slow down too and walk at a more leisurely pace. I've always been a fast walker and I still zip around the house.
 
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Since November I've skied 52 days and fallen 4 or 5 times, no bad wrecks this year, with just a couple ski days remaining. Once in the driveway (an ice sheet for months), that I made a bad fall.

Exiting the wife's new suv which came equipped w very wide running boards which made it difficult to get one's leg vertically underneath the butt to push up off the car seat. The running boards have since been removed, the appearance is much cleaner too.

I have deliberately prepared for falls through consistently challenging myself during workouts, and the rest of my activities knowing the possible life long consequences resulting from a serious fall.
 
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DailyArtsyCrafter said:
I too am concerned about falling as I age. It's easy to become complacent since I haven't fallen yet. I do have exercises in my daily fitness routine that help improve my balance. I get them from Grow Young Fitness at FBook. Deron Buboltz is here to help seniors improve their quality of life through exercise. These are some of my favs: 4 moves that you can do everyday to help improve balance risk.




I have noticed lightly scraping the floor/ground occasionally with one of my feet. I will remember and practice picking up my feet when I walk.

I think I also need to slow down too and walk at a more leisurely pace. I've always been a fast walker and I still zip around the house.
Click to expand...
I'm a fast walker too. I have to watch that!
 
Ruthanne said:
Hi @Kaila . I just got up from a little 😴 You described very accurately what it's like to fall. I have to wait 20 more days for Physical therapy. They must be busy there at the YMCA where they have the PT here in my city.

I might ask my doctor if they can do an MRI .

I just want to know precisely what is going on in my tailbone area. I just feel I should have that done. And I think more things could be better to find out what is happening.

This is about 4 or 5 times I've falled since I moved here. I've been here 14 years.

Thanks Kaila
Click to expand...
I think that some sort of scan would be good to have! I don't know what kind. I hope that your Dr will order one, to give you more info.
 
I fell on a tram last week, I got on at my usual stop
and the tram was full of school children, so I headed
toward the rear, carrying a shopping bag that was not
too heavy, plus a shoulder bag, suddenly the tram hit
a bend and lurched to the right, I was in the aisle and
not holding on as there were no handholds nearby, I
landed in a heap, but uninjured, thank goodness.

So when ever in public transport hold at all times!

Mike.
 
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