Sue tripped and face planted on the sidewalk, breaking bones

Zee09 said:
I have had a couple very violent falls lately and have full sympathy and at our age the healing can be slow.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery 🙏
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Just last week I was messing around in the front yard, and caught the tip of my shoe on a raised section of concrete on the sidewalk in front of my house. It was one of those deals where I took off running to try and catch myself from falling forward.

I rand a good 15 feet before I was able to catch myself on the mailbox. Otherwise I would have face planted on the concrete for sure.
 
billt460 said:
Just last week I was messing around in the front yard, and caught the tip of my shoe on a raised section of concrete on the sidewalk in front of my house. It was one of those deals where I took off running to try and catch myself from falling forward.

I rand a good 15 feet before I was able to catch myself on the mailbox. Otherwise I would have face planted on the concrete for sure.
Click to expand...
Catching the tip of your shoe is a common issue especially walking up steps and can really do you in..
 
Zee09 said:
Catching the tip of your shoe is a common issue especially walking up steps and can really do you in..
Click to expand...
My wife keeps this softish mat with a stiff backing in front of the sink. I reached sideways (right) to get a pan, leaning right and bending my right knee, normal and fine. Except the inside edge of my left shoe caught on far side of this mat, bending the mat UP and forcing my left leg up with the fulcrum line being my left knee not my hip at that point. Holy crud, knees don't bend sideways, 68 year knees...........well..........it hurt! Didn't go down, just straightened up real quick!
 
billt460 said:
Just last week I was messing around in the front yard, and caught the tip of my shoe on a raised section of concrete on the sidewalk in front of my house. It was one of those deals where I took off running to try and catch myself from falling forward.

I rand a good 15 feet before I was able to catch myself on the mailbox. Otherwise I would have face planted on the concrete for sure.
Click to expand...
That must have been a sight! Twenty or so years ago I was walking in downtown Colorado Springs with my petite and still athletic 75 year old mother.

She tripped on the sidewalk and lunged forward, breaking out into an awkward run, her upper body leaning forward 45 degrees, both her arms flailing like out of sync helicopter blades!!! Her strapped purse swung around her body like a whip, miraculously staying attached to her hand or arm, only to eventually fly 20 feet up into the air before landing in the middle of a busy downtown street!

But she didn't go down! The moment she regained control she spun around and looked at me. Both of us broke out into INSTANT laughter!

Scott
 
billt460 said:
Just last week I was messing around in the front yard, and caught the tip of my shoe on a raised section of concrete on the sidewalk in front of my house. It was one of those deals where I took off running to try and catch myself from falling forward.

I rand a good 15 feet before I was able to catch myself on the mailbox. Otherwise I would have face planted on the concrete for sure.
Click to expand...
The last sneakers i got i purposely picked a pair with more of a pointed front with as little rubber front as possible. Less surface area to catch steps etc. So far so good.

Yesterday I caught the back of my shoe on the steps.....geez...
The culprit is a bad back that reduces your leg lifting.
 
I wish her the best and am glad to hear that it was not worse.
I used to shake my head at the apparent frailness of older adults, but since wife and I are now older, I am far more empathetic, since it is now we who are frail relative to our younger selves.
 
Dave P. said:
"Those slip , trips and falls can be serious at any age."
Back in January my 67 y/o wife slipped on ice and fell on the walkway at our house. Hurt her right ankle to the point where she crawled back into the house. In a few hours the pain had gotten so bad she called me to come home from work and take her to the E/R. It was so packed with folks coughing, vomiting, etc. we opted for an Urgent care instead. They didn't have Xray available so they wrapped and said go to the ER which we did next day. Fractured ankle was diagnosed so go see an Ortho doc which we did Monday. How 'bout the pain in my side. No worries, probably from the fall. Yup, ankle fracture and maybe ligament damage so get an MRI. Back to Ortho doc, MRI revealed ligament damage. How 'bout the pain in my side. No worries, probably from the fall. In a day or two, the pain in her side intensified so back to ER...another Xray reveals cracked rib. OK, at least we know. A day later, she coughed up a small amount of blood so back to ER. CT scan reveals some blood clots in the lung attributed to the fall. Go see a Pulmonologist. Yup, a bunch of blood clots so onto blood thinners for at least 90 days. Ortho surgeon recommends surgery but those blood clots really complicates things to the point my wife is now so scared, she doesn't want surgery which doctor says is OK but you can expect the ankle to forever be somewhat compromised.
She has since healed up and is doing ok. Blood clots cleared up and off blood thinners. Ankle is relatively ok after a few months of P/T and back to work. It was rough on all of us though. I'm buying rock salt by the truck load this winter!
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Glad it is going in the right direction. A lesson for all of us who read your post. Do not ever , especially as we all get older, just blow off injuries and think "no big deal" or "I do not want to make a big thing out of it." It is not worth taking the chance. My attitude on this has certainly changed as of late. Since I have fallen three times this year and the last time was pretty serious. No broken bones. I have been told the last one scared the wife out of her wits. I was knocked out for way too many minutes for the wife. She does not mess around. She took me asap to hospital er via ambulance and we spent an entire day running tests etc.... Nothing serious found so I was released only to find later I was experiencing side effects of concussion 6 weeks later. I was told by several Doctors that concussions can cause symptoms many days to weeks after the injury has occurred. I am 100% better now but this was something neither the wife or I had any experience dealing with.
 
Given the blow she took to her face and the bad headache she had afterwards, I'll make sure she lays low for a few days.

Long story short, in January 1998 I had a bicycle crash. Face planted on asphalt at 24 mph knocking myself unconscious for 20 or 30 seconds. Even after awakening I was severely stunned and barely able to talk. I was taken to the ER in an ambulance and was diagnosed with a severe concussion that took me 6 months to get over (I broke three bones too). Sometimes I'd get so dizzy I had to support myself by leaning on a wall or holding on to a piece of furniture. It took a long time to get over that concussion.

Scott
 
Sorry to hear that! I just went through this with my wife as well. In her case, she broke two teeth completely off which came out through her upper lip and twisted an implant! Thousands of dollars later, looks ok, but she's kinda scared to walk anywhere now!

You need to watch that she doesn't develop that fear.
 
JohnnyG said:
Sorry to hear that! I just went through this with my wife as well. In her case, she broke two teeth completely off which came out through her upper lip and twisted an implant! Thousands of dollars later, looks ok, but she's kinda scared to walk anywhere now!

You need to watch that she doesn't develop that fear.
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Walking is one of Sue's "Zen things". No way is she going to give it up.

Scott
 
slo town said:
Given the blow she took to her face and the bad headache she had afterwards, I'll make sure she lays low for a few days.

Long story short, in January 1998 I had a bicycle crash. Face planted on asphalt at 24 mph knocking myself unconscious for 20 or 30 seconds. Even after awakening I was severely stunned and barely able to talk. I was taken to the ER in an ambulance and was diagnosed with a severe concussion that took me 6 months to get over (I broke three bones too). Sometimes I'd get so dizzy I had to support myself by leaning on a wall or holding on to a piece of furniture. It took a long time to get over that concussion.

Scott
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Smart idea I can assure you. Totally understand what you are dealing with after wife and I both have experienced the first ever concussions ourselves in the last 6-8 months. Age/poor balance/bad backs certainly do not help. My after symptoms were rapid onset nausea and dizziness that seemed to go away pretty fast. Scary none the less. Take care of you two!
 
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