It suddenly came to me a few days ago that there is more going on in a fall than just an injury.
I've fallen and broken my wrist twice. In 1992 , while I was bird counting, I slipped on a steep icy slope. I reached back to break my fall and my hand hit on the shale of the path. The ulna broke into four pieces and the radius in three pieces. I'm not going to go on about how much it hurt.
In 2001 I fell while skating and broke the same wrist. The lady skating just ahead of me fell and hit her head on the ice. Her head hit at my feet. I tried to turn quickly and help her and I fell backwards and broke my wrist.
As a result of these two falls I became very cautious when it came to walking on ice. I lost my confidence. I had to work hard to be able to walk in a normal fashion on winter ice.
I did a forward roll on my bike in 2008. I suffered some road rash and a huge bruise. I had no trouble getting back on my bike but I look back and think how fortunate I was that I wasn't seriously injured. Yes , I was wearing a helmut and there are a few scrapes on my helmut. Yes, there was some damage to my bike but I was able to ride home.
A year ago I fell down the stairs. I was most fortunate and didn't suffer any injury other than a few bruises , pulls and embarrassment . I still haven't got my confidence back when it comes walking downstairs. I am working on it.
So it dawned on me that there is more to a fall than just the injury whether slight or serious. Our confidence is shattered. We don't hear about that very often. The injury that takes the longest to heal is the emotional on.
Why is it so important to get back to normal? We do much better and it's safer if we move with confidence and strength.
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| This is where I pivoted awkwardly and fell |
