A serious fall can have a massive impact on one’s life. Falls are prevalent among seniors who are predisposed to falls due to age-related factors. Anyone is susceptible suffering a serious fall. These accidents can also be due to the negligence of another party.
If you or someone you love has sustained a serious slip and fall injury, call the Chicago Personal Injury Centers today at (773) 482-5800. We can help to treat your pain and injuries to help you regain your strength and overall well-being. If you fell and have injured yourself due to no fault of your own, remember that you are entitled to seek compensation.
What Should You Do After You’ve Had A Serious Fall?
If you have fallen, follow these steps to know what to do next:
Check For Fall Injury
If you suffer a serious injury, you should protect your health and safety. As such, while on the floor, check for injury-related pain, tingling, or numbness. The parts of the body that are commonly injured during falls include the hips, knees, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and head.
How to Get Off the Floor
After assessing your body and how you feel, you’ll decide whether or not you are strong enough to get up. If you feel you can get up, do not exert your body. Be gentle in your efforts.
- Assess Surroundings: Identify a sturdy piece of furniture close to you. Roll onto your side by first turning your head in the direction you want to roll. Then, move your shoulder, arms, hip, and leg in the direction you intend to move. *NOTE: Before next step, rest still for a minute or two to allow your blood pressure to adjust.
- Side-Sitting Position: Assume a side-sitting position and then slowly get onto your knees and hands. While on your hands and knees, crawl to the sturdy furniture you have identified to help you get up.
- Identify your stronger leg: Kneel next to the chair with the stronger leg next to it. Slide forward your strong leg so that the foot is flat on the floor, and retain the weaker leg kneeling on the floor.
- Slowly Rise: With a firm grasp on the chair or couch, raise your body while turning onto the chair until your bottom is safely seated. Rest for a few minutes.
- Assess Body: Check again if you have injuries.
What if You Can’t Get Off the Floor?
If you’re not capable of getting yourself off the floor due to weakness or injuries, do not force your body to get up. You might end up harming yourself even further.
Nonetheless, it is important to remember DO NOT panic and reach out for help.
- Call for Help With Technology: If you can reach your phone or an emergency call device, use it to call for help. Additionally, if a fall happens while at home and you have a smart speaker such as Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod, or Google Nest, use it to call for help.
- Call for Help Without Technology: What if you don’t have any communication devices near you? Try to slide yourself towards it. Do it slowly and gently. Alternatively, slide to a door or window that is much closer to you than your phone and yell for help if you think you can be heard.
- Try to Keep Warm: As you wait for help, find something to cover yourself and stay warm. Slide away from cold surfaces, such as tiled or concrete surfaces, as they’re not good insulators. You can slide onto a carpeted part of the floor. Slide away from sources of draft and cover yourself with a duvet, blanket, or warm clothing.
- Move Joints: Finally, try to move your body as much as you can without exerting yourself. Gently move your body to prevent it from becoming stiff and sore. Additionally, gentle movement, such as rocking from side to side, will help you generate body heat.
Seek Medical Attention
While our senior loved one’s are prone to falling, anyone can fall. In fact, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention notes that falls are the leading cause of traumatic brain injuries. It also notes that 1 in 5 falls results in serious brain injury. Falls are not only common, but can also cause serious injury.
No two falls are the same. Some falls cause minor injuries, such as bumps and bruises, while others cause serious injuries.
That said, it’s essential you seek medical attention if you knock your head, especially if you experience a traumatic brain injury that is typically accompanied by the following symptoms:
- Loss of consciousness
- Nausea and vomiting
- Confusion
- Slurred speech
- Seizures or convulsions
- Loss of vision
- Headache that worsens or does not improve with time
Additionally, you should seek emergency medical care if you notice these symptoms:
- Extreme pain
- Pain that worsens when you try to move
- Bleeding that does not stop even when you apply pressure to the wound
It is important to keep track of your health in the days and weeks after a severe fall, looking out for signs of brain injury. Be keen to notice any mood swings, trouble concentrating, trouble waking up from sleep, numbness, trouble reading and writing, and stomach pain.
Get Non-Emergency Care for a Fall Injury at Chicago Personal Injury Centers
Minor falls might cause a few bruises and bumps, which you can treat at home. With rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE method), you can heal minor bumps and bruises. While minor falls might not necessitate seeking medical attention, you definitely need medical care after a serious fall.
We offer full medical examinations for victims of a serious fall injury in non-emergency cases. Additionally, our specialists will walk with you through the recovery process. Whether you’ve suffered back injury, concussions, hip injury, neck injury, shoulder injury, spinal disk injury, or any other injury, our specialist will help you recover.
We offer a wide array of services you might need to recover, including:
If You Have Suffered Slip and Fall Injury, Call Our Offices Today
If you’ve suffered a fall injury, start your recovery journey by visiting our personal injury specialists at Chicago Personal Injury Centers. Call our office today at (773) 482-5800 to schedule an appointment.
