I have had a few falls over the past year, none particularly serious, but I couldn't identify the reason for the fall in some cases. Sometimes, I misjudged the number of steps on our staircase and hit the last step when I wasn't expecting another step. Okay, that's stupid, but it's unrelated to age. I'm not sure that's true because I never used to do that. Perhaps I should admit that I must maneuver the stairs more carefully and slowly now. I am more likely to trip over stuff in the woods, but while the general deterioration in coordination may be related to age, that doesn't concern me much. What worries me is when everything seems fine until I fall. I'm not tripping over anything, my legs aren't giving out, and I'm not passing out; I fall. That's only happened a couple of times, but that concerns me more than when I fall because of carelessness, moving too quickly, or not paying attention. On the positive side, a week or so ago, I fell while walking up the stairs. It was purely presidential.
While it's only loosely related to the elderly and falling, it's gets to the point where any bodily movement may be greeted with unexpected pain unlike before. I was on my knees leaning into the bathtub to wash the plastic tub I use to wash kitchen dishes in. Trying to get up, I apparently pulled a muscle or two in my right hip and have been limping around in pain for about a week now. As an after thought, after falling you are going to want to get up which could result in it's own challenges.
I attribute a lot of my “carelessness” to the fact that bifocals render my depth perception a bit off the bubble. Walking is a natural thing to do so it’s just a matter of muscle memory but gauging the distance to step over an object or my favorite, coming off the first rung of a ladder to the ground is cause for a double check before actually doing it. Just a mention: Did ya ever come down off of a ladder and think the 2nd to the last rung was the last one? I’ve jarred a knee over that error a few times especially in the last 5 or so years.
Something similar results when I think I am stepping off the last step in our house only to find that there are one or two more. I don't fall over, but it sure does hurt.
I put a chair in my shower after I fractured my right ankle. But it dawned on me that chair would break a fall so it remains a permanent part of my tub.
I haven't fallen in the shower since I was in my forties, but if I have to reach down to pick something up, getting back up hurts.
The only time I worry about falling in the shower is when there's soap on the bathtub floor. I've not yet installed handrails, but when I did a tear-out to tile the surround I took pics, so I know where the framing is.
Bobby installed the handrails for the shower, three of them. Two are inside of the shower, and the third one is just outside, which helps for getting in and out of the bathtub. We have a non-skid mat in the bottom of the tub, too. I use all of those and am thankful to Mr. Bobby for installing them. I am pretty sure that I would have lost my balance and fallen if he had not done that. Last summer, I had a hard time working in the yard and garden . Because my balance is so bad, every little irregularity is like a landline for me, and I fell several times last summer. Once was while sitting in my gardening chair, and it went over backwards with me, and I rolled down the driveway and ended up underneath the Ranger pickup, and upside down. I am thinking that I will not do gardening next year, just because I am so concerned about falling and actually breaking some part of me when I do that. I do have a walker, one of the rolling ones, and I think that I might try walking around in the yard and maybe even down the road a little, but using the walker, so I don’t fall. Not until we have warmer weather next spring for that, for sure.
I think I've mentioned it somewhere in the forum before, but I fell in the shower at our ambulance station when I was in my early to mid-forties. It was a cement shower, and I slipped on something as I stepped over the cement threshold, curb, or whatever it's called, landing on my lower back. It hurt, but I figured it would pass as things generally do before you reach your sixties and seventies, and, of course, it did. However, the following day, I woke up after sleeping on my back, which I don't ordinarily do, but it hurt to lie on my side. At first, I didn't realize there was a problem. Then, when I tried to get out of bed, it hurt so bad that it was akin to being paralyzed. When I started to turn to get up, there would be a block against which the pain was so bad that I felt like it couldn't be done. I was single then. Since I was a part owner in an ambulance company, I could come and go as I pleased, so no one would come looking for me unless I was gone for at least twenty-four hours. I remained there for a couple of hours, wondering what the heck I was going to do. Then, I somehow fortified myself against the pain and forced myself to roll past that pain block onto the floor on my knees. From there, I was able to get up slowly. Standing straight, the pain was gone. In fact, I spent a long time with my back against a wall to remain upright in that position. Being a real man, I didn't say anything to anyone about it. I didn't want to sue our own insurance company and besides, I slipped. If it was anyone's fault, it was my fault. I thought about seeing a doctor but opted to wait and see if it would go away, and it did eventually. I hate doctors. Since then, I haven't been able to sleep on my back. I can lie on my back while reading in bed, but I turn over onto my side before sleeping.
Jake just put up handrails a few months ago and I really like them, I feel so much more secure standing or just moving around the tub and shower.
We both have walkers although haven't used them yet, I'm glad to have them, reminds me I wanted to try mine out. I do use a walking stick Jake made me from a small tree a year or more ago. I love it. I wear garden gloves with it.
I have a walking stick that Bobby made me , too, and I have used it for several years now. However, my balance keeps getting worse, and I just do not think that the walking stick would help if I lurched when out in the yard. I am not even sure if the rolling walker would help, but I think that it has a better chance. We are going to get back to going to the fitness canter after the holidays, and I think that the swimming will help me be more mobile by summertime, at least i am hoping it will. Even if it does not, I am getting exercise in the swimming pool.
Yvonne, I think a walker will be a good idea, my balance gets bad or worse I should say, I'll sure use my walker. it has a seat on it and large wheels for rugged terrain like these trails. Jake has one too for when his back goes out. He has lots of metal in back from spinal fusion in early 2000.