Because of the post about walking down stairs, I’ve been spending time the past couple of days reading about how to fall safely. Some people say try to land on your side, but a video for seniors says never do that, you’ll break a hip. AARP has these suggestions, but they’re aimed at 50- to 60-year-olds. They say that age group is more active and more likely to fall than older folks.
I did enjoy watching these videos from Texas Woman’s University but I’m not about to practice them. I’ll spend my time working on my balance and keeping my legs strong. And I will try to remember to stay as loose and relaxed as possible, with my arms and legs bent, if I do happen to fall.
Every winter our senior center reminds us to walk like a pigeon if there is ice outside. This video about that cracked me up:
When I mentioned shuffling, Andy said that’s no problem for him. He always shuffles.
May 31, 2022
My current safety program: stay away from stairs and don’t go outside in the winter. 🙂
Sounds great. I do the same thing in winter. 🙂
This is all really good advice. But even better is to NOT EVER walk on ice!
I avoid it as much as possible too!
good advice! cute too. but I agree with just staying IN.
our ice storms don’t last that long so it makes the most sense to simply stay in and safe and dry!
It’s the same here. Try to avoid needing to go out.
well I don’t seem to have the body shape of the penguin – like the upper part is separated by long legs which do meet with my feet but much further away than the penguin body – I am wary or wet leaves on badly made footpaths …
maybe in my next life I will be a penguin and my swimming poweress may improve as well…
You’ve put a lot of work into this project!
Having fallen only twice in my life on stairs (both times catching my toes on the top step as I was racing up the stairs), my approach to falling is more generic. I tuck and roll – much as I learned years ago when learning to parachute. That’s what I do just after tossing aside (more likely, forward) anything that I might have been carrying.
That’s great that you were so well trained. 🙂
I can’t help but think of the song “walk like an Egyptian” now. Guess we need to rescript the lyrics a bit.
No ice here in my neck of the woods.
You’re lucky about the ice!
we have no ice here, but we do have roots and weeds to trap our feet. I am now trying to break my habit of going barefoot. I just can’t seem to remember to put on shoes for outside. bob shuffles but not with feet turned out, just the 85 year old shuffle… I do what you are doing, exercise to make my legs stronger and balance exercise. it really helps but sometimes I forget to do it and that doesn’t work. cute video…
PS, no ice here
I exercise while streaming TV shows or movies. It helps a lot.
Roger shuffles…but does not have good balance…
Andy says he has bad balance, and he occasionally falls up on the land. When I walk up there (uneven ground) I use walking sticks…my eyes don’t work together well and the sticks let me walk at a normal speed.
Tom shuffles all the time; I never thought about that being a good thing! I don’t worry about ice accumulation, but let a few random ice cubes fall and our kitchen floor becomes slick as a skating rink.
The trouble with shuffling is it’s easy to trip over little things. I try to remember to pick up my feet, except when it’s slippery!
Thanks for the link to AARP. Very good advice! Cute video.
🙂