falls in older people

I'm 64 and sometimes wonder what the future holds, having had a few falls over the years - icy pavements, wet leaves, uneven surfaces.
The most spectacular was almost a year ago to the day. Going upstairs, I changed direction to fetch something, took my hand off the banisters and managed to pitch myself downstairs, planting my face on the hall floor.
Seven hours in A&E - dislocated finger, broken wrist and nose, front tooth knocked out with two others fractured. I was in plaster overnight, then strapped up. Three cheers for the NHS.
My advice is to take extra care on stairs. These accidents don't just happen to other people. I approach all stairs more carefully now. Never let go of the banister. And don't change direction - it was literally my downfall.

maybe even a sight {grin]

I have to be extra careful wherever I go now as I can't see what's at or near my feet and use my stick to tap forward and feel for kerbs etc.

Last winter I fell on the lawn whilst trying to put compost round my trees.

The lawn was like a lake due to days of torrential rain and I had to crawl on hands and knees right across the muddy morass to the fence to pull myself up - laughing all the way.
What a site I must have looked but fortunately none of my neighbours saw me.

I fell flat on my face a few months ago and ended up with two black eyes. The fall didn't cause pain at the time or later.

I tripped over an uneven paving stone but I don't think it was my age that caused me to fall - it was the uneven paving stone and I feel that a child or 20 year old could have fallen in the same way.

I have always had a habit of going base over apex. I am mildly dyspraxic and have a weak right ankle.

MY most recent fall was in January, I was walking briskly down a steep hill in Marseille with my sister. My ankle gave and because of the slope and speed, I went flat on my face. I lay there for a few seconds, then I got up and we walked on with me slightly shaken. I definitely fell over. I did not have a fall.

Bob Dylan joins the club:
www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1913292/Video-Bob-Dylan-trips-speaker-Vienna-gig-rant.html
He's 77.

(both.)
I managed to login to futurelearn but the course on falls isn't on offer at the moment.

Not funny at the time but the re-telling is funny

I think I was probably wearing very high heels when I came bumping down the wooden stairs

I know falling is not funny at all, but we have stairs like MOnica's and have had to take the same precautions. I cringe when the DGC come skipping down in stocking soles. Some years back I lost footing at the bend in the stairs and did a kind of luge thing to the bottom, badly bruising my own bottom in the process. In the first few minutes I stayed absolutely stock still in plank formation, assessing bit by bit what hurt and whether I could chance moving. DH and my lovely dog appeared and the dog put her paws on my chest and began to lick my face. Through clenched teeth I mumbled "Get the flaming (or something to that effect) dog off my chest." DH obliged and then stated - with what sounded suspiciously more like amusement than sympathy - "Oh good. Ye're nae deid then!"

I first fell down stairs when I was about 19; they were an old flight of wooden stairs in an Elizabethan house and very hard indeed.
The bruises were spectacular.

Grannyknot & others, I so agree with you. There is a certain age when you stop falling over and start having falls as if you were some passive object like a Joey that rolls over at the slightest push.

An 80 year old friend courteously stepped back on a pavement to let a mother and push chair get by, didn't realise how high the kerb was, misplaced his foot, fell over and broke his ankle. He got really p****d of having doctors keep referring to his accident in a passive sense and advising attending a fall prevention seminar. As he said, he could have had his accident at any age, his age was irrelevant to the accident.

Of course for disabled people (of any age) who are prone to fall easily, especially in the home, then there are strategies they can implement to reduce the risk. But most of them are common sense anyway.

We live in an old farmhouse with narrow steep twisty staircases and we have inflexible rules about not going up or down them bare foot or in socks/tights, all slippers and house shoes have rigid rubber soles, no slipper socks, or felt soled slippers. The only person to slip on them, in 22 years, was DGD, quite recently, when she tried to come down them in socks. Fortunately ground floor ceilings are low so the stairs are shorter than most and because they twist, it is very difficult to fall all the way down, she slipped three steps and then bumped into a wall.

I also invariably hold the bannister coming down any stairs and that applies to DGC if I am in charge - and I started to do that decades ago as the result of a safety talk at work. Nothing to do with age.

NanKate you are very welcome.

Annsixty I do hope your DH gets an appointment with the Falls Clinic soon. There is so much they can do and it may be a very simple solution. Try to encourage him to use a stick/aid if he has one and to have appropriate lighting at all times. The only other pieces of advice I remember which might be easy to follow are to ask the GP to check his long-standing medication and to encourage him (your DH, not your doctor) to sit down when he goes to the toilet for a wee, especially at night. Apparently many men are reluctant to do this, but it prevents a lot of falls.

Sending you a hug.

My H falls regularly, he is very doddery.
On August 30th he was referred to a Falls Team by our GP.
As I hadn't heard anything I rang this morning to be told there is a very long waiting time, so it is acommon problem.
He fell on Thurs, Fri and Saturday.
We have now been referred to a different agency , this may get him seen sooner.

Thanks Caladonail4 just signed up.

A wee update for anyone interested in the online, free Aging Well:Falls course on Futurelearn.

www.futurelearn.com

They've told me there is no date yet for the next course, though there is usually one a year. They advise registering and putting the name of the course on your wish list in the profile, so then you will be among the first to know. I'll keep an eye on it as well.

Fennel, I think lawyers use those shopping buggies for court paperwork, so maybe you will just look venerable, busy and clever

I stopped wearing sandals for that reason,*annodomini*. Now I only wear firmly laced up Skechers outside, Skecher slipons inside.
Dora - your fall sounds terrible . A warning not to be carrying shopping or anything, don't walk with hands in pockets.
I keep meaning to get one of those shopping buggies that you push in front. But then I will look ancient.

BlueBelle, bought some 'spiky things' that can be fixed to my shoes.

I meant to add, I'm generally quite careful, holding on to banisters etc.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery for all those getting over a fall...

I never say I "had a fall" or even that I "fell over".

I fell twice in the past six months, once because I had put loads of cream on my feet and rushed down the stairs with both hands full and misjudged the end of the step and what with my heels being so smooth I landed on my backside near the bottom of the stairs. Apart from a bruise the size of a dinner plate, I was fine.

On the other occasion, I left the dishwasher door open at floor level, forgot about it and stepped back and went "ass over kettle and onto the floor".

So neither had to do with anything other than my own stupidity.

I had a bad fall just over a year ago when the toe of my sandal caught in a rut on the local station platform. Masses of dramatic bruising, a big 'egg' on my head and a broken shoulder sent me off in an ambulance with lights flashing and sirens blaring. I was investigated in A&E for possible reasons for the fall - an ECG to see if I'd had a heart 'blip'. The shoulder healed well in about six weeks and all bruises disappeared quite fast, but for months I had flashbacks of lying on that platform, yelling for help. I am under strict orders from DS1 (bossy!) to watch where I put my feet, and, for the most part, I do. With wonky knees, I also now use a stick when I'm out.

I’m fine except for snow and ice then I walk like a penguin

Dora thanks for what you've said and I'm sorry to hear about the fall you had and the way you landed. As I said, I think we are a strong, gritty group of survivors who deserve all the understanding going. Even if it is just being kind among ourselves.

Jalima it's completely understandable. I still have to take a deep (shaky) breath at the top of the ramp from which I fell. I would not have had much sympathy before my own fall and still feel a little guilty about that. I'm a much more helpful, patient person. Think of us as a select bunch of hidden veterans who have gone through an experience we'd rather not have had but which gives us the kind of knowledge and skills only an insider can have. And take the word preventable out of your memory, except where you need to apply it in future. One thing I learned from the course was that even the falls experts sometimes forgot to be risk aware and - while sorry for them - I was glad they shared.

I also followed the future learn course about falls some time ago and agree that it was very interesting and informative. Future learn is a great free resource for all sorts of interesting courses ,would thoroughly recommend it.I seem to remember that it included some useful tips to improve balance which is often a factor in falls as we get older. I do try to stand on one leg for a few seconds every day which was one of the suggestions(with support close by- eg a chair back). Also making sure to put lights on now the nights are drawing in when going upstairs or getting up in the night,DH is very bad at doing this and I am always nagging him about it. Having a fall, which I did down the stairs some years ago, does knock ones confidence so although I refuse to pander to advancing years I am very cautious when out and about.