I fell over - I didn’t ’have a fall’!

Calendargirl

Yes, why is it our little GC ‘fell over in the playground today’ but if it’s Granny, she ‘had a fall when out shopping’?

🤷‍♀️

This irritates me too. I simply refuse to ‘have a fall’ until it applies to everyone, not just the older generation.

Baggs- yes, agree. Doesn't really matter what you call it in my opinion and yes, that young couple probably will say "old/elderly lady" if they relate the story just as my OH and I helped a young skater up after a tumble from his board. He probably told his mum later - some old people helped me. Who cares. If you're over 65 you're old - no value judgement attached - just as a 25 year old is young. Doesn't mean you look or feel doddery. It's just an adjective. "My usual 20 lengths" is there to illustrate how far removed you are from frail but it won't stop others from thinking of you as old - because you (me too - I love swimming) are a "sprightly" old person. Better than the alternatives surely - not everyone makes it to the "old" category.

I am a bit more accepting of the medical "have a fall" teem now as posters above have said it refers not to a trip up or over something but falling down related to a drop in blood pressure etc where you just sink down for on the face of it no reason.
What for me is so irritating is the whispered he had a fall like people used to refer in whispers to cancer..

None of it helped by the term a "falls clinic".

Since having my toes amputated, during the Pandemic, I've had a few falls, quite unavoidably as my balance has gone right out of the window.

And it's always referred to as 'having a fall'. So what?

Last time I fell over I tripped over a guyline when camping. Id fallen asleep, woke up, realized I needed a wee before I went to bed properly, went out half asleep and promptly fell flat on my face in front of the people next door. I made sure to tell them the next morning that I hadn't been drinking. Id just tripped over a guyline in the half light!

mae13

Since having my toes amputated, during the Pandemic, I've had a few falls, quite unavoidably as my balance has gone right out of the window.

And it's always referred to as 'having a fall'. So what?

because 'falling over' amd 'having a fall' are different things, with different causes and those who cannot be bothered to differentiate between the two, by that I mean the medics dealing with it, are doing a disservice, especially to those who simply fell over.

Those who have 'had falls', the main cause being physical problems, blood pressure, hip problems need different help to those who fell over for external reasons tripping over ropes, rugs, paving slabs etc etc and they need to be differentiated.

I often hear people say that and also 'I'm under the doctor',

But, people don't "simply fall over", M0nica. There's always a reason for a fall. It may not be the fault of the person who fell but there's still a reason.

Old people and toddlers fall/have falls more than people whose physical balance mechanisms have got past the toddler stage or whose balance mechanisms haven't begun to deteriorate with old age.

Saying this is an acceptance of a fact of life (how life works) not a criticism or a judgment of inferiority that some people seem to think it is.

I think what is the problem is that if a 40 year old slips on a patch of ice thats what has happened he has slipped on a patch of ice and fallen down, ends up his back or bottom.
But if a 70 + year old slips on the same patch of ice he has "had a fall" with all thr knowing looks and whispers. I think that is the annoying situation the thread is zbout.

Embarrassingly, as I am the most elderly in the class, I fell at Yoga recently while trying to execute a difficult (to me) balancing pose. No injuries, just a loud tumble and red cheeks! I agree that I 'fell'. Didn't 'have a fall' Witzend!

Baggs

But, people don't "simply fall over", M0nica. There's always a reason for a fall. It may not be the fault of the person who fell but there's still a reason.

Old people and toddlers fall/have falls more than people whose physical balance mechanisms have got past the toddler stage or whose balance mechanisms haven't begun to deteriorate with old age.

Saying this is an acceptance of a fact of life (how life works) not a criticism or a judgment of inferiority that some people seem to think it is.

If someone falls because of some mechanism within themselves, their legs are weak and wobbly (like DH), they feel unbalanced or dizzy, or their hip gives, (it has been suggested with good evidence that many people do not fall and break their hip but fall because their hip breaks) then I consider that 'having a fall.' It isn't a uestion of fault, there is no uestion of fault. If I trip over a kerb, fail to see rope or banana skin. That is falling over because there is an external agent involved in the event, which, if absence would have meant no fall.

The latter I believe is classed as a "mechanical" fall, because there is a mechanism that leads to it.

If you're really dizzy to the point of falling, that's probably not a fall at all, it's a "collapse" (just to muddy the waters)

Grans FGs stay upright!