Unfortunately, falling is not at all unusual, particularly for those with physical challenges or for the elderly; but anyone can take a bad fall at any time no matter how usually able to manage gravitational attraction. In fact, falls are the #2 leading cause of accidental death worldwide. One in three people over age 65 fall every year! The next most frequent falls are children and young adults. So even if you’re young or youngish, hopefully you will find at least one helpful idea here to keep in mind if needed.
I am caregiver for my late-80s-year-old Mom, who for a while was falling on the floor fairly often, maybe once a week or so whilst getting in and out of bed. Fortunately, she was not getting hurt (I didn’t witness it, but think it was a fairly controlled fall, sort of a slide off the side of the bed, onto a well-padded carpet). However, she could not get herself up and I could not lift her, so our first solution — after I strained my back — was calling 911. The EMTs would spend about 5 minutes at our home, lifting her up after ensuring she was mostly OK, and seating her on the living room sofa, where they would go through a checklist, including vital signs, which were always OK. They would offer a ride to the hospital, which she always refused. Then a week or so later, we would receive a bill for $1500! Apparently if they don’t take you to the hospital, Medicare does not pay the ambulance bill.
Of course one wants to prevent such falls, and more about that later. And of course if you have such falls, before trying to get up, first make sure you don’t have an injury.
But the focus here, since we will probably all fall sooner or later, is on getting up after a fall. It took Mom and me several tries and $4500 in ambulance charges before we found a solution, and I’d like to help you avoid that. (I understand that sometimes you can call the Fire Department directly and they’ll lift you for free, but they won’t do that locally. You also might have family, friends, neighbors, but we don’t have any of those without bad backs themselves.) So let’s try some self help.
How to Get Up From a Fall
There are, as it turns out, multiple tutorials for how to help someone up from a fall. I checked video after video. Most show how to roll over, get on one’s knees, and push or pull up from there. Welp, Mom has arthritis in her knees and feet, so cannot get into this position, it is too painful. Finally the most helpful video I found is this “MacGyver” version, figuring out every possible way to get into position to get yourself up. Warning: If you don’t have much strength, this is not likely to help you much! OTOH, you may want to consider what exercises might allow you to improve your strength so that this might be useful in your future.
Only problem: The model in the video is young and flexible. Mom is not. Maybe most of us are not!
But here is a quick summary of the techniques she covers in the video, so that you can view them if they sound promising for you:
1) As above, roll onto your knees and push up, crawl to stable surface and push/pull up.
2) The tipping point: Lean back on the couch, lift your bottom slightly, when the couch is taking the weight of your upper body, walk your legs back and up on the couch, then sit up.
3) The hip hike: Lean to one side, lean your head forward, use your elbow, lift your hips to the level of the couch.
4) The step hip hike: Use a lower surface to get partway there.
5) The speaker step: Use stereo speakers or similarly sized objects, stack to push yourself up one step at a time. The model shows these steps being used whilst she places her arms a bit behind herself and pushes herself up.
6) Use furniture legs: Place a chair or small table upside down. Combine with speakers or other objects to push up one step at a time. Use the legs to help push/pull up.
7) The inverted chair: Some chairs can be turned over, with slats that provide stepwise support. Again, placing arms behind and pushing up.
8) The book tower: “Just” rock hips side to side and place a book under each side, continuing until the piles of books are high enough that you can stand. Either build the tower next to a sturdy surface with handholds that can help you pull yourself up once high enough, such as a bookcase or windowsill, or build it in front of the couch so that again the books serve as an intermediate step to help you onto the couch.
9) She also includes recommendations for if you are too injured to rise and are alone: Glute scoot or sideways inchworm to the door or phone to call for help. Or bang on the door or window to attract help. You do not want to stay on the floor for hours without eating or drinking, it’s very dangerous!
Welp, Mom could only glute scoot. Everything else was impossible: 1) too painful on her knees and feet, 2) too painful on her back to stay there long enough to push the rest of the way back, 3) still not strong enough to lift up, 4) not even lifting up a short way, 5, 6 & 7) shoulders do not rotate back like that [trying it myself, I discovered mine don’t either, cannot lift up whilst reaching behind], 8) she could rock her hips, for a short time we thought we’d found success! But we couldn’t figure out how to keep the books in place under her rump. Tried with pillows too. She kept sliding off into the middle between the stacks!
So finally, I found this helpful hint online:
Use an air mattress! I found tallish self-inflating air mattresses for about $30 at WalMart. Much better than $1500 each time! And very little physical exertion needed by the fallen person or the caregiver. Mom could glute scoot onto the uninflated mattress and lie down comfortably. At first I thought she might get swallowed up by it and was ready to pull her off if needed, but eventually it inflated underneath her and lifted her right up. With the mattress fully inflated, she was lying at approximately the level of the seat of the couch. So she sat up, scooted over and transferred to the couch with help from her walker. We then deflated the air mattress. It is now positioned in the living room next to the electrical outlet, so it can be pulled out and rolled out and plugged in fairly easily. Mom might even be able to rescue herself. Please be sure to try this carefully at first! There may be operational differences between brands and types. And since this is not how it is recommended that it be inflated, it may not last as long as it would otherwise, but is still much less expensive to replace than an ambulance trip.
I was unable to find a video showing this unconventional use of an OTC product, but it operated very similarly to the HoverJack in this video:
There is also more than one inflatable chair for lifting a fallen person. This video shows the proper way to use such, again using patience and ensuring the person is unhurt and understands what will happen:
SO: If you are likely to experience one or more falls, you may want to plan ahead to have something inflatable nearby to easily rescue yourself. The medical devices, of course, are significantly more pricey, as far as I can tell with the pumps about $1000; but there is value in having something that works as designed if you can afford it, and it’s still less expensive than multiple ambulance calls.
How to Prevent Falls
Of course, ideally one doesn’t fall in the first place — it is a common cause of broken bones in the elderly! (Although as noted, it’s likely to happen sooner or later.)
Here are things to check:
1) Medications: Especially interactions and differences in metabolism especially in the elderly. In Mom’s case, the doc thought these were OK (of course!), but I’ve gradually reduced her mood-altering meds to about half with noticeable improvement.
2) Dehydration or over-hydration: The doc told Mom not to drink water any more, which can dilute electrolytes and cause light-headedness; but to drink plenty of fluids, since dehydration can also cause light-headedness and the elderly tend not to have strong thirst signals. She now drinks 12 ounces of Gatorade during the day (she needs calories too) and 12 ounces of sugar-free PowerWater at night (so she keeps her teeth!). Both have electrolytes. You might also try Pedialyte. It’s not just for pediatrics anymore! It probably has the best combination of electrolytes. But Mom refused to drink it because of the taste. Tastes differ, though. It’s worth a try.
3) Balance issues: Especially inner-ear problems. The doc checked Mom, found no problems. When we get over the Covid crisis, though, if you suspect such issues, an ENT specialist might be in order.
4) Deconditioning: The weaker the muscles, the easier to fall and the more difficult to get back up! Mom was on an exercise program, but we are gradually increasing it. She also now spends part of each evening holding onto her walker with me spotting her, and standing on one leg, then the other, then letting go of the walker and holding it as long as she can. She is now up to about 10 seconds each leg. Better balance! We also work on sit-ups and lifting herself, in hopes we might be able to graduate to one of the self lifts in the MacGyver video eventually.
5) Modern effing beds: Pardon my almost-French, but this is most of Mom’s problem. Not sure whose brilliant idea it was to make beds ever taller, but they are a significant contributor to fall risk! So I have now ordered Mom a step. This step. It’s adjustable and it has handholds so she can step up without her walker. The “infomercial” video is worth watching. And if you click on the link, don’t worry; if you don’t order immediately, you can return later and the clock starts ticking again on the “special one-time only” sale price. That’s what I did after checking reviews etc.
6) Grab bars: We are going to install more grab bars along the hallway and in the shower. They are of limited usefulness elsewhere, as the other rooms open up and have plenty of furniture.
7) Here are more tips from the Mayo Clinic. But the rest of these, we already had in place. Mom fell repeatedly anyway.
Good plans neither. h/t PinotBlue
Conclusion
Since this is longish, I decided to summarize. There are several potential ways to get up off the floor, but the best way we found to get up off the floor was using a passive inflatable device. Knowing you are susceptible to falls, plan ahead. Place it where it’s most likely to be needed, near the electrical outlet to plug it in, and you can unfold and inflate.
There are also several ways to prevent falls and they all should be considered, as there is likely to be more than one contributor. Most importantly, get checked out by your doctor; but do not rely on your doctor, they do not think of everything. You can ask for a referral by your doctor for a home evaluation by a therapist. However, Mom had several after a stroke (PT, OT, and Neuro), and they did not think of things like too-high beds and inflatable rescue devices either. So if you didn’t know, now you know!
If you have more ideas, please contribute in the Comments!
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