Having a fall…or falling

I could trip over a matchstick, I'm so clumsy. 3 years ago, I was 74 and got my foot caught under a pipe left exposed in my garden after they installed a new oil tank. I face planted the path and broke my femur. In hospital they kept saying I had a fall so I kept saying I didn't I tripped over a new pipe in the garden. Every time they said had a fall I corrected them. When I left hospital I was contacted by the 'at risk' team to ask what help I needed for every day day life. All because they wouldn't accept I am just clumsy !

Oh Frogs - what bad luck (I am SO lucky that did not happen to me). Have an uneventful Christmas. And better luck in 2026.

bonbons01

Perhaps this ought to be in pedant's corner as it's not even grammatically correct.
You fall.
You fell.
You have fallen.

Just to be a completely daft tease here, but should that be pedant's corner or pedants'? After all there is more than one pedant!

I am 61 I tripped over the hoover in my daughters kitchen last year (left carelessly in the middle of the floor) no injury sustained and this year tripped over one of the kids toys left in the hall. I call these trips she keeps referring to them as “falls” it drives me insane! She lectures every day on older people and risk and makes out that I am about 108 with senile dementia😡 she has recently qualified as a nurse and thinks it makes her an expert on my health😡

I've often wondered if there is an official age at which you stop falling over and instead have a fall.

I’m also 73 and it’s not unusual for me to fall over my own feet or unseen obstacles, but “have a fall”, never.
I also find being called “dear” is pretty patronising, and don’t get me started on “bless”!

due to a problem with my blood pressure i had several serious falls in the summer. more than anything i felt a right idiot afterwards! luckily I am a bigger lady so I bounced just a few bruises nothing too serious but I am clumsy at the best of times. if i can walk into it trip over it or fall over it then I will!

I agree with Flutterby about this. I am very aware from the experience of my late DH that loss of balance at 87 was the beginning of the end.
My balance so far is all right, but I take more care than I used to. If I were to fall, I would say, I had a fall.

My DH was reading a doctor's notes in his NHS app. It said"speaks in full sentences". Goodness knows what she was expecting!

labazs

due to a problem with my blood pressure i had several serious falls in the summer. more than anything i felt a right idiot afterwards! luckily I am a bigger lady so I bounced just a few bruises nothing too serious but I am clumsy at the best of times. if i can walk into it trip over it or fall over it then I will!

I'm a bit of a bouncer too labazs, I often fall over things that I just haven't seen, last month it was the dishwasher door late at night when I didn't have all the lights on. It refused to work afterwards and when the engineer came he laughed and unbent the front of the basket, apparently it happens all the time - the bent basket was simply stopping the door from closing properly. I felt a right idiot too!

Riversidegirl

My DH was reading a doctor's notes in his NHS app. It said"speaks in full sentences". Goodness knows what she was expecting!

I love this!

I have long had a tenancy to either catch my toes on uneven street paving, or simply go over on my ankle, resulting in my staggering several yards down the road, trying to stay on my feet, and not always successfully.

It really doesn't bother me whether someone refers that as 'falling' or 'having a fall'.

My main concern is that a) I am OK, or b), if I am not OK (still hypothetical as this hasn't happened yet), I am given the help I need.

Honestly, with all the genuinely awful things that happen in life, I just can't get het up over this one.

Mind you, there are many equally trivial things that I am not so laid back about 😂

Jaxjacky

I slipped on wet leaves last week and broke my hip, the surgeon called me robust, I didn’t have a fall.

Sorry to hear about your hip, but delighted to hear that you were described as "robust", I'd rather like that myself....

Yes I can see there's a subtle difference that Jo Brand could pick up on & make a bit of a gag out of, but tbh I wouldn't be bothered whether people said "she's fallen" or "she's had a fall". I can't get that the latter is inaccurate or obviously patronising.

In medical circles there is the "mechanical fall". Very common usage but in my experience there's not a little variation in what people think it means!

I tripped last year on holiday, caught the open tie on sandal on concrete stepping stone hidden in grass. I fell, was that having a fall? To me is was a full front slam dunk!

What ever I did last Monday aged 79 resulted in a painful swollen knee , bruised iliac crest, broken glasses cuts from my teeth to the inside of my mouth , large cut on my upper lip and a nose bleed. Generally very shaken up. Resident drs on strike so steristrips to the cut applied and I plod on more carefully.

I think that ‘having a fall’ can be a medical description for an older person falling due to a disability or medical condition, not just being clumsy, my OH is disabled due to a brain injury which has affected his balance so he can ‘have a fall’ which could in his case be very serious.
But medical staff should not apply this phrase to anyone over a certain age who may just have been clumsy is inaccurate and lazy.

HelterSkelter1. It could be run by Frank Spencer maybe. I can still see in my mind the episode where he was in the loft and fell through the ceiling . No w that could be called having a fall🤣

I don’t really mind what people call it if my husband is on the ground, I just need help getting him up. In our town, we are only allowed to fall over between 9-5 Mon - Fri as the Falls Team only operate then. I have found that my blow up electric airbed is a brilliant aid. I lay it out beside him and roll him onto it then switch it on. He does look rather like a hot dog in a roll for a few seconds but it brings him up to a level where he can sit up and stand. He has mobility problems due to dementia and I always check him for injuries first. Saves calling 999 and the long wait on a hard floor. He rarely hurts himself.

KathrynP Thank you for sharing your technique for helping your DH get up whwn he falls.

My DH is frail, but, as yet, falling is not a problem but........ Your wizard wheezz, will be remembered in case it is ever necessary.

We have baby gates to stop the dog entering the kitchen (where the cat is fed) and bathroom (litter box- indoor cat). I was carrying an enormous bundle of dry clothes fresh from the dryer and tripped over the gate base. I went over sideways, still holding the clothes, landing against a sturdy bookcase, gate entangled in my legs.

The bruises were spectacular!

My DD now insists I use a long plastic-suckered bathmat when I shower or have a bath...!

I'm afraid there does come a point where you can fall for no explicable reason.

As I recently said in another thread, exercises to strengthen legs and ankles and making sure you can see well, especially the floor, will help. They will, however, only prevent trips and falls, but not falls due to frailty, dizziness, disorientation or weakness.

My walking has improved significantly since I started wearing walking boots for ankle support. I can speed up a bit too. Merrell lightweight boots are ideal.

The descriptive expression I hate is "Boomer". I think it should be forbidden like the N word because I find it deeply offensive. Especially as I belong to the so-called "Silent" generation. I am anything BUT silent.

I do not have words which make me cross - but I do notice with interest that no one calls a 20 year old 'sprightly'! It does seem to include the idea of age.