Actually these are pretty sturdy; I wear them on my days off, probably 5 or 6 times so far.
A nurse gave me some extra socks last time I was in the hospital. Apparently it was one of the few things they supplies in excess.
As for knowing how to fall, it’s something I learned a long time ago, but I’m a lot older now and it requires some flexibility and speed to do it right. When it counts you don’t get advanced warning. I’m thinking these days I’ll sacrifice and arm to save a hip. I’m not going to stick my arm straight out to stop the fall, but I would let it hit hard on the ground or anything else in proximity to reduce the eventual impact,
one reacts rather reflexively (rather than ideally) in these moments, or so i’ve learned from patients and my own experiences as an older fall victim. so don’t count on actually following your ‘fall plan’ to the letter should a mishap occur.
Best time to start dancing is when you’re heading for a fall…
Sunrise at the ocean; a cold late December morning. She was sitting there, all bundled up, in what looked like a school chair. It didn’t even appear to fold for easy carrying. She wasn’t facing the sun either. I have no clue what she was doing there & thought she might be too bat-shit crazy to ask as it was just so bizarre because she wasn’t even facing the sunrise. But I do know where I took it so you might be able to go find her.
I fell last weekend and it was pretty cool. I stepped off the porch while wearing slides. My gf was potting plants and left the hose right where my stepping off the porch foot landed. My ankle rolled and I went down, rolling as I went. It shook me up, but a mild small abrasion on my one knee was the only damage (other than my pride).
The cool thing was, I sat down and wrote down the details of all my falls that I remembered, looking for commonalities between all the events. Different times of day, different levels of inebriation, different seasons, different everything except for one thing each fall had in common!
Drum-roll…Every fall happened as I was stepping down. I can’t believe I never noticed this.
ETA: weird that when I fell the first thing that went through my head was this thread.
This is thereby my most useful contribution to the Dope!
Sounds like maybe paying careful attention to stair treads, curbs, and landings when stepping down might increase your healthy spry lifespan by a decade or so.
I don’t have a good inventory of my falls, but thinking back, if I am to make a mistake on stairs, it’s far more likely to be thinking I was on the last step when there was one more to go, and thereby stepping out into space 8" above the landing, than making the same mistake going up and ramming my foot into the last riser I didn’t think was there.
Your astute observation contains a useful lesson perhaps for more than just the two of us.
Agree. In several falls I was looking at my phone as well as stepping down. I do fall well, as I’ve never damaged my phone.
One of my falls was exactly that.
@LSLGuy , how well do those socks stay on your feet? Mr. Legend has balance issues as well as severe neuropathy in his feet (no doubt the two are connected), and he wears grippy socks around the house. Unfortunately, the lightweight ones I got him for summer use slip off his feet occasionally, and he can’t always tell its happened unless he looks down and notices.
My worst falls have happened when I was doing something I knew full well was unwise - taking a shortcut across unsafe ground, carrying too bulky or heavy a load on the stairs, hurrying downstairs, leaving trip hazards around. Nowadays, though, I’m realizing that I really benefit from all the safety precautions we’ve had to add to the house for Mr. Legend’s sake. Oddly enough, grip bars, better lighting, and removal of throw rugs made the house safer for me, too! (He has an extra cane, but I’m going to hold off on that for now.)
These work quite well for me. No slipping. Because they are designed for yoga, they’re designed to stay on under various stresses from various poses.
I often wear lightweight low hide-a-socks inside my shoes. Those fall off or slip down routinely. I don’t have neuropathy so I notice immediately. And it’s a PITA. Unlike with the yoga socks which never slip down when worn without shoes. I conclude the thickness and strength of elastic in the real yoga socks makes a big difference.
I do not know if ordinary calf-height socks (“crew socks”) are made with non-skid soles. That might be another avenue to combat slipping. You didn’t say, but big puffy feet and big puffy ankles don’t help either.
Good luck!
Yes. This.
Developing the mental habit when you hear that little alarm bell to stop, look, listen, and then do something different instead of just blunder ahead is not easy. But it will pay dividends for each and every one of us who makes the effort. That sound of an oncoming train? It really is an oncoming train.
I’m the opposite. If I’m climbing over a deadfall carrying a running chainsaw I will not fall. My worst falls have all been when I’m mentally distracted.
The last time I fell was late this winter. I’d been stacking firewood; involving moving, with my arms full of wood, back and forth over half-frozen, sloping, slippery ground. I was very careful; I didn’t fall.
I finished the job. I got the tarp over the pile. I was all done, and could now relax. I went into the barn to put something away, turned around and started out of the barn – and tripped over something, and went right down.
I wasn’t hurt, except for a brief bit of soreness; I’d caught myself properly on my forearms without thinking about it. But I knew immediately what had happened: after all that time being careful not to fall, I’d relaxed a bit too much, and therefore fallen when I was doing something much less hazardous.
After my stroke few years back, they taught me how to get up from a fall, in physical therapy. Not how to fall, but how to get up.
I have enough training and experience in falling to avoid the worst situations, but I also know it won’t be a time that gravity fails. My reactions won’t lead me to serious wrist fractures, but I certainly can’t roll through a fall anymore or absorb the impact with all four limbs anymore. It’s gonna hurt one way or another.