I fell over - I didn’t ’have a fall’!

Well here goes! Several months ago I’d had too much red wine (!!) Managed to stagger upstairs but then “went flying” in the bedroom. Partner found me lying on the floor. I must have done something to my hand and wrist because it still hurts most days. Eventually, I decided to go to see the doctor. He was a charming man and couldn’t believe I was 73!! He didn’t think there was anything broken, just gave me a tube of “Powergel” to rub into the affected hand. I hadn’t the heart to tell him I’d had too much vino on the night it happened, just said my leg “gave way” due to my arthritic hip!! Been more careful since then with the red stuff!!

My late husband who died 02/01/25 fell over many times due to arhritis in his knees for about 7 years up till his death he did become more frail he also had asthma and diabeties type 2 ,2 strokes within about 18 months he was still getting about going to the shops taking his rollater taxi to town but decided to leave the rollater at home and use the electric scooter at the supermarket just taking one crutch there was a knock at the door someone telling me he,d fallen over.He hurt his leg taken to hospital couldnt walk anymore due to pain in the leg. had to have front room equipped with hospital bed etc etc carers 4 times day he developed a bedsore at the base of his spine cares wouldnt touch it so community nurse cleaned it once a week if that and developed sepsis he went to hospital and never came back.If he,d taken his rollater he might not have fallen over and might still be here.

This made my smile…my absolute pet hate I’d…she’s HAD a fall.
I’m 72 and will never ever Have a fall, I may fall over…God forbid but the having a fall thing is going to pass me by 😂😂

Having a fall is a bit more serious at 60+ - not like our many falls when we were 6 and we lapped up the attention of the playground supervisor 😆

I fell on almost the first day of a holiday in Australia - although we went on to have a good time; my broken metatarsal, curtailed the scope of our adventures.
Idt DH has quite forgiven me.

Moral do not walk and film on your phone…

At my last PIP assessment the assesor asked me if I had had any falls recently. I told the nice gentleman that yes, I had fallen over 6 days prior, not "had a fall" as in was only 55 at the time! My back is dreadful but I'm far from a doddery old lady!

I stood on a chair recently (don’t ask) and I fell off it. It doesn’t matter whether I had a fall or fell over the result is the same - I was in agony!

This is why when someone indicates that a fall has occurred, it's essential to find out the circumstances. Tripping over something because you weren't paying attention is one thing. A fall occurring because someone got dizzy or their feet just went out from under them, is something else. As an example, I think it's about 70% of people who experience a hip fracture have osteoporosis. I believe that it's theorized that in some cases, the person doesn't fall and break a hip, they actually break a hip and fall. The bone becomes so brittle that it cannot withstand the weight of the body, and breaks on its own, with the break causing the fall.

I remember Judge Judy once saying that she asked a good friend who was a doctor how to enjoy a healthy long life and he simply replied ‘don’t have a fall.’
As we get older our bones become brittle and our organs more prone to failure from a sudden fall. Many reading this won’t consider themselves of an age to worry about this but if you are a woman brittle bones as we age can become a real problem and it isn’t just the elderly who can suffer from this.

I think the whole class in our junior school would have had scabby knees and elbows.

some old people, who have had a lifetime of being very good at not falling over even if they mis-step

I've always fallen over. My knees were permanently scraped as a child!
Calamity Jane.

Falling over is as a result of an accident, tripping over something, falling off an unsteady bike, a household object, even wearing the wrong shoes. I am quite good st thwt.

Having a fall means someone falls without reason because their balance is not good, they are unsteady on their feet, usually as a result of age or illness.
The first time I gave blood, it was a hot day, I was walking back to work and just fell in the street. No injuries, and luckily some people in a nearby shop came out and rescued me.

Sorry, Baggs there is a difference. The semantics of what people, especially medical staff, say to you can be key to how they regard you and how they treat you and it can make the difference between active and best treatments being used and simpler less efficacious treatments being used.

I saw this with my father in his last illness. he was 92, still livng independently and capable of cutting the grass. When he was rushed to hospital in severe pain. The moment the Professor, who was on shift, saw him he was talking in active tenses about getting to the cause of the pain, getting him home etc. He was put forward for a very new operation that would reuire a transfer to a London hospital and Professor was talking of im making his century. Then another problem surfaced and it was clear that the end was in sight. The language changed, the tenses changed. He was seen in a different light and the language reflected it.

I remain surprised that anyone minds someone else describing their... misfortune.... as having a fall.

I've had multiple falls and tumbles thoughout my life, many of them caused when running up stairs at school, many more cantering about on mountains. I've fallen off my bike a few times, on icy roads for example, and I've been knocked off it by other vehicles three times. I have fainted or nearly fainted a number of times 'in public' as well, always for a reason such as shock after what minibaggs would call a "nastident".

I simply don't care how anyone else describes these mishaps. It doesn't seem to me to be important. If people want to think me old and doddery as I become so, it won't bother me in the slightest. Why would it? Especially as, in all cases of the mishaps I've experienced, the immediate reaction of anyone has been helpfulness.

If people want to think in patronising terms about me, they're welcome. That's about them, not me.

I'm beginning to think that minding what one thinks someone else is thinking, finding kindness patronising and bothering about the difference between falling and having a fall is about lack of self-confidence - even perhaps a certain physical 'fragility' that one doesn't want to be noticed - more than anything else.

I am less strong than I used to be, slower and less flexible than I used to be, more bothered by the arthritis I've had all my adult life. When it starts to become obvious, I just hope people are patient and as helpful as I've generally found them. They can use whatever expressions they like if they wish to talk about it.

Free speech and freely.

Wouldn’t even say you fell over. You tripped on an obstacle.

My husband, on the other hand, did “have a fall”. Down like a stone, no idea why, can recall very little, serious injuries, in hospital for 3 weeks.

I always connect 'having falls with frail people, of any age whose balance and lack of strength in their muscles means they can collapse at any moment. Those people who when out of the house use a walking frame or rollator.

Whereas to fall over means that you actively tripped over something, turned your ankle, stepped backwards off a stool into thin air or other action that resulted in being spread eagled on the ground.

Esmay

20 lengths-I'm very impressed !
Anyone of us can fall at anytime,but when you are of a certain age - it becomes a fall!

It’s not a very big pool though - only 20m at David Lloyd.

Witzend

No, nobody’s trying to insult anyone, Baggs, but ‘having a fall’ is generally associated with being a somewhat doddery old thing, and since I’m (so far anyway!) very far from doddery I wouldn’t like to think of anyone saying I’d ‘had a fall’.

Perhaps you were 'Throwing a shape' rather than having a fall !

20 lengths-I'm very impressed !
Anyone of us can fall at anytime,but when you are of a certain age - it becomes a fall!

Some years ago I fell over at the dog groomers - defintely didn't 'have a fall' - and broke my arm. Waiting for an ambulance I was highly entertained to hear that the code for an accident for any female over sixty was 'Nan down'.

Tend to agree with Baggs. Not worth worrying about what people might have said or of being thought old.

I have dyspraxia. going base over apex is something I have done at least once a year for the last 80 years. I definitely fall over, usually in a spectacular fashion, nothing passive about my falls.

However many years ago I taught myself to relax into falls when they happen so I rarely damage myself in any way.

A friend of mine has frequent falls. He doesn’t trip over anything. GP cannot diagnose a particular reason. He does not lose consciousness. Sometimes he is fine when he gets up, but it depends what surface he falls on or whether he hits against anything as he falls. But I have seen him ‘ have a fall’, the best phrase for his incidents.
I have taken the precaution of getting contact details not just for his son who lives miles away, but for a local neighbour too, in case he needs immediate support.

I call it doing a Norman Wisdom. Or doing a Norman for short. But you have to be old to understand it.

I don’t care what it’s called, I just don’t want to do it!