Not me but my sister.
Carrying a laundry basket, she once fell down two steps to a landing, turned the corner, and then fell down several more steps.
mmm
What I hate is that black ice. You will slip and fall.
Growing up in Philly, my biggest winter sport was landing on my keister. My butt was basically an ice-magnet. On one occasion, I suffered a concussion and lost consciousness.
In a flash of brilliance (or maybe just a fear of more bruises), I moved to Florida for 40+ years—where “winter” meant complaining about a chilly 60 degrees and never slipping on so much as a stray ice cube… on second thought, yes I did and it earned me another concussion.
Now that I’m old and my bones crackle like stale pretzels (not those Philadelphia soft pretzels), I’ve decided to sell my place and return to Philly. Clearly, I have a flawless sense of timing.
… perhaps I should have inverted that timeline.
I used Yaktrax for a while, until I wore them into my shop and promptly slipped on not ice. It was on the clean concrete floor.
Walk like a penguin. Short steps and keep your weight centered over the foot that is on the ground.
Last week I slipped on the wooden deck at our office - it wasn’t icy, but it was very cold and wet. I was walking too fast, in indoor boots. I don’t remember specifically how I landed, because my first objective was to get up before anyone saw me, but I was very shaken up. It took a few minutes to just stand there evaluating how I felt and catching my breath. I decided nothing was seriously wrong and carried on, but in the six days since, my back pain has gotten worse. I just got back from the doctor, and I’m having an x-ray done this afternoon.
Last February, I did the same as the OP. I was walking the dogs in the woods (off leash so it wasn’t their fault) and stepped on ice that was covered by a light dusting of snow. Down I went and landed on my side. I did something to my rotator cuff. It was terribly sore up until 2 months ago. I’d guess it’s about 75% back to normal now. It’s taken almost a year! I now wear ice cleat spikes on my boots.
I was paying attention to how I walked this morning. Was dangerous b/c it was MOSTLY clear, but there were still very occasional areas that were very slick. I realized that my slips occur when I plant my foot in front of me and transfer my weight onto that leg. So THAT is where I need to focus my attention - to ensure that the foot in front of me is landing on non-icy ground.
The other measure to take is related - shorten my stride. If the foot is planted only a few inches in front of me, I am less likely to become unbalanced than if I place it a full stride-length in front.
I feel like such a decript old fart to be spending so much time thinking about this!
From reading the comments, I think one of the reasons I don’t have many falls to report is that we tend not to get snow-melt-freeze-snow cycles here.
Once the snow hits the ground in November or December, it tends to stay until March, and then it generally starts to melt slowly (sometimes into April). It’s not so common to get slick ice covered by dampish snow, which is a real slippage hazard.
Still happens sometimes, but generally only at the beginning and end of winter.
Agreed. I have, lodged in my memory, watching an NFL playoff game from sometime in the mid-to-late 1970s. It was being played at Pittsburgh, which, at that time, had that horrible low-pile Astroturf carpet as their playing surface. The turf was slick and icy due to the weather, and the announcers talked about Steelers running back Franco Harris, who seemed to be an expert at running on such a surface without slipping and falling down; he kept his center of gravity over his feet, and took shorter strides.
Whenever I have to walk on icy pavement, that memory comes back to me.