Falling, a major for me to watch out for.

The other day, I was searching the floor for a button I'd dropped. I spent ages looking in all the corners for it, then I stepped on it and skidded across the kitchen floor, but thankfully I landed on my backside which is on the plump side and cushioned the fall.
I said to myself, "Sod it, that button does not want to be found", then, lo and behold, I found the beggar, would you believe it, on the table, don't ask me how it got there, my brain isn't capable of working that out?
 

Twelve years ago, we were having trouble with the three flights of stairs in our old house so we moved to this new, one story, house. The only steps are a couple of big ones from the laundry room into the garage. I fell down them. There's no railing or bars on the garage wall which is a bad thing. I had my new puppy in one hand so there was no way to catch myself and I landed with my full weight on my left knee on the concrete.

Messed up for life. I broke the tibia, the femur, and tore all four ligaments, so I'll be using a cane forever and my left leg, which bows inward due to no longer having an MCL anymore, keeps looking more like a "K" next to my straight leg.

I feel like that one fall took me instantly from middle aged to old and that's not good, but I'm grateful that I've never had much pain from it other than the initial fall, which was pretty intense.

Recap: All stairs should have railings.
 
One of the older men in our poker club fell and broke his hip last year. He spent almost a month in the hospital after going home and feeling fine. The area around the replacement hip became infected and then it became so bad, he had Sepsis. They gave him bag after bag of antibiotics through an IV. He told us later he only had a 50-50 chance of surviving.

At the same time, another community neighbor had to have 2 stents put in. One in a heart artery and 1 in his neck. While in the hospital, he came down with MRSA. It’s a staph infection that is contagious, I think. A routine procedure turned into staying 2+ weeks in the hospital. Today, he is doing fine, thank God. He is a Mr. Fixit. He fixes most anything for people that bring their broken items to him. We all love the guy. He refuses to take money, unless he has to buy a part, but most of us insist he takes the money.
 

timoc said:
The other day, I was searching the floor for a button I'd dropped. I spent ages looking in all the corners for it, then I stepped on it and skidded across the kitchen floor, but thankfully I landed on my backside which is on the plump side and cushioned the fall.
I said to myself, "Sod it, that button does not want to be found", then, lo and behold, I found the beggar, would you believe it, on the table, don't ask me how it got there, my brain isn't capable of working that out?
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Good to hear you suffered no damage. Maybe with a bit more practice you could have an act worthy of one of those TV shows, Britain's Got Talent. ;) :)
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I notice that sometimes I'm a bit off kilter when I'm walking lately. I think part of the reason is visual changes and some of it is existing balance issues. So I do try to be very careful. I still haven't needed to use a cane yet though. For some it could be inner ear issues too.
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I could have written this for the sight and the hearing. It seems as my hearing gets worse my ability to walk in a straight line has become even worse. Also, with limited peripheral vision, I’m afraid I’m going to drift into someone and cause us both to fall.

At DH’s support group they had a little lesson on walking like a penguin. Those cute little critters are so stable on the ice. I’m not so sure that I am quite as cute as I do the penguin walk down the roadway this winter. We were reminded to use a backpack so our hands are free to help us catch ourselves.

I can’t remember not using a handrail to go down stairs. Now I use it going up too. I also feel better leaning slightly forward as I go up. If I’m going to trip, I want to fall up rather than down.
 
I fear my day is coming. Now that the weather has turned very cold,the dogs have to stay in the house. So several times a day,we have to take them out to their fenced area. Gigi is a very large dog,and very strong,but she is so,so good about going slow when I have her on the leash. Rio,the puppy,is smaller (although she`s bigger than I thought she was going to be,at about 20 pounds)so I carry her. Well,this all involves a walk across our snowy,icy deck,down three stairs and about a 15 foot walk to the kennel gate. Since it hasn`t snowed in a couple of weeks,it`s very icy. I`ve only slipped on the ice once,and thankfully I wasn`t carrying Rio at the time. I was able to grab the chain link fence to keep from falling.

So yesterday I asked hubby where my golf clubs are. I know my golf shoes are in there and I think they would be good to wear when I take the dogs out. Going to try them today. Although I have discovered that Rio will not leave Gigi`s side,so I can now just let her out and she will follow us right to the kennel.Much less chance of falling if I`m not carrying her.
 

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I fell 3xs between 60 and 64. Once I was power walking and the sidewalk was very uneven and I caught my toe on it and went flying through the air and had a concussion. Then I tripped over a dog and broke my little finger. Then I fell on ice and broke my wrist.

Now I have slowed down and don’t rush, pay attention to where I’m walking and don’t go out when icy. I bought a pedal machine so I can exercise inside when it’s icy. I haven’t fallen in 4 years now.
 
Mrs. Robinson said:
I know my golf shoes are in there and I think they would be good to wear when I take the dogs out. Going to try them today.
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If those don’t work, you could try slip on cleats for walking. They’re not expensive and do the trick. With it being miserable here, more are wearing them this year. Just take them off as soon as you get inside. Store owners are getting upset because people are wrecking their floors.
 
Jules said:
If those don’t work, you could try slip on cleats for walking. They’re not expensive and do the trick. With it being miserable here, more are wearing them this year. Just take them off as soon as you get inside. Store owners are getting upset because people are wrecking their floors.
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Great idea!
 
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