Feel lucky to be alive after falling forward down my stairs.

[Tolkienista]

I'm writing this just to say that you never know what is round the corner and for me I'm still in shock that I had the luckiest escape ever.
Saturday night I was on my own & stupidly descended a few steps of my staircase & leaned over the bannister to turn down the thermostat. I felt my foot pretty much disengage from the tread I was standing on and I was in free fall heading head first down the stairs.

It was probably only a milli second but I literally thought, I'm going to die as I was going forward and I knew the point of impact probably eight steps down would be my head. Miraculously I somehow managed to grab the rail on my right side and slammed into it with my body. It stopped me falling further and I disentangled myself and realised I'm alive.

Yes I've got bruised ribs, but nothing paracetamol can't deal with.

But I'm here to tell my tale and realise that at worst I could have died and at best I'd have sustained a head injury but to what degree I don't know.
Cue a massive sigh of relief , a massive reflection on my life and all that I've done to safeguard myself & then I throw it all away by endangering my life turning down a thermostat over the bannister.
If you've read this far, thank you for your time ........I just needed to get my story out there and say I'm safe, I'm fine, I'm really thankful and most importantly I'M ALIVE.

I’m heading for 80, DH is there already. We really want one level accommodation, but our home won’t raise enough to buy retirement housing, whether a flat or a bungalow. We’re not eligible for sheltered housing through the local authority, because we're homeowners!

Exploring possibilities, because a fall, especially from height is extremely dangerous at our age. Reading the experiences above, I’ll try and be doubly careful!

Dh and I were just this morning, talking about putting a second rail on the stairs. I fell down them 12 years ago breaking my elbow and injuring my hip. The bruising was phenomenal. I don’t think I would get off so lightly now I’m 12 years older. I’m ready to downsize to a bungalow or ground floor flat but dh doesn’t want to move.

@DontCallMeBaby a friend died falling from the loft hatch. Absolutely tragic and felt so unnecessary ☹️

Wow, this exact same thing happened last year (around March) to a neighbour of my DD's work colleague. Couple in their late 40s, one son who left home in 2023 to live with his girlfriend. They had everything to live for, mortgage nearly paid for, had a cruise booked for their 25th wedding anniversary, proper close couple.

He found her at the foot of the stairs (dead) when he came home from work one evening. She had fallen and hit her head on the edge of an oak unit at the bottom of the stairs. Terrifying how a life can just be snuffed out like this. And only 48 too! Her husband is a wreck, and has been since it happened.

New fear unlocked!
Jeez, this thread is scary... but thank you for the warnings. As a clumsy person who can trip over nothing this is food for thought.

I have been very careful walking down stairs since mis judging them in the London Underground and landing on my ankle at a right angle, fracturing and dislocating it.

I was on my own and thankfully helped by a passing doctor and policewoman. The wait for an ambulance would have been hours, so they helped me get to hospital, which was a bit of an ordeal. I ended up with it being yanked back into place (painful) and a 4 hour operation to insert plates and pins.

It happened so quickly.

I am glad you are OK OP and I offer my sincere sympathises to those who have suffered an injury or lost people through similar falls.

Weirdly my two cats are very conscious of the stairs. They will either run ahead or wait for me to go down in the morning, and one of them has just sat and watched me come down before going up.

Perhaps because they didn't have access to upstairs as kittens they are a bit more wary.

@Tolkienista ouch! So glad you managed not to have serious injuries! It’s scary!

I lost my husband in August, and although he’d mostly been in hospital the six months before he died, it’s only now that I’m completely on my own that I worry what I’d do if I had an accident at home - like falling down the stairs. Irrational I suppose, as it also could have happened when he was in hospital.
So I’ve decided I need to declutter my home, and get it on the market. It’s too big for just me, large 3 bedroom semi with a massive garden - will probably go for a bungalow.

When I think about it I am petrified of something like this happening. I live alone and no one would know and I would die before anyone realised.

I was just saying to my daughter yesterday that 2 people that we’ve known in my hometown have died from falling down the stairs in recent years 🥺 glad you’re still with us.

I need to step away from this thread! Falling down stairs is my nightmare, luckily I have never done it but am always ultra cautious. Best wishes and speedy recovery to all the stair fallers.

Yes it is a horrible shock isn't it OP, and just shows how quickly one can depart this life! I too had a fall down the stairs and that moment when you just lose contact and start to go has to be one of the longest moments of your life! I suffered a badly sprained and bruised foot, nothing more, and thank God nothing worse happened even though that was intensely painful. Thereafter I now always hold one bannister rail going downstairs!

I'm glad you are OK OP and yes it takes a mental toll as well.

As a veteran stair-faller my heart goes out to you, OP. And to everyone else on this thread.

I've now moved into a ground-floor dwelling, but honestly don't know how I lived long enough to do so.

From many falls, I've learned:

• Never carry towels or clothing on the bannister arm – when you fling out your hand you'll just end up with a handful of towel.

• As you start to go you may instinctively try to brace your legs – but this will launch you off the step into the void. Instead, immediately bend knees into a crouch to get your weight as low as possible as quickly as possible. Together with flinging arms out that might be enough to arrest the fall, but if not then curl right up with one arm over your head to the back of neck. You'll bump off the steps as you go down, but from a lower height each time.

• Never have glass at the bottom of the stairs - door, mirror, picture, vase, whatever. Exposed coat hooks or any other pointy thing also good to avoid.

• Carpet is safer than bare steps.

• The safest stairs are between walls so you can fling out arms or elbows to brace yourself.

So very glad you are OK. Not sure why this is underlined, sorry.

My husband had died and I was alone in our very remote high ceiling railway station, built high above the road for the platform. I saw a peacock butterfly high up on the wall at the top of the stairs, and got the stepladder. I had to stand on the very top rung and let go so I could put the glass over it - the ladder tipped sideways. I would have gone over the bannisters and in that instant, knew I should have carried my mobile phone as no-one would hear my calls for help if I survived. I managed to throw myself the other way off the ladder and scratched my leg badly, but I was alive. I bought a long handled duster for the cobwebs after this and all butterflies had to take their chance!

I’m horrified at the number of people who know people who’ve died following a fall downstairs. Horrified because I do too. I never walk downstairs without holding onto the bannister. And if I carry anything downstairs I make sure I have one hand free.

I fell backwards down the stairs last year and gave my head a good crack on the wooden floor and knocked myself out last year. It was really scary and shook me up for months. I always think how lucky I am and how we really don’t think about how dangerous stairs can be.

I fell from half way and even though I knocked myself out I still remember it and it felt like the longest fall ever. I think because I knew I was falling backwards and knew what was coming because I couldn’t put my arms out to cushion the blow. I tried to grab the bannister but just couldn’t and it was awful.

@Tolkienista Thank you. She was a wonderful young woman who we all loved very much, I cannot believe she has gone. Her parents are utterly bereft.

Have you looked into one of those emergency call buttons? It saved my grandma's life last year when she fell down the stairs and was unable to move on her way to bed one evening. She was meeting friends the next morning so someone would have raised the alarm then but that could well have been too late. She pressed the button and help came.

This is terrifying reading this, so glad you are ok.
I don’t have hand rails on my stairs, it’s on my never ending to do list and something else always take priority with finances.

I fell head first a few years ago. No idea what happened but one moment I was at the top and left I was in a somersault as I kind of went didn’t onto my knees and over. I tried to grab the bannister and just soft or battered my arm off the struts.i remember the moment realised I was going and there was no way to stop and I let myself go limp. I ended up at the bottom in a sore heap. I remember thinking ‘am I ok’ and gently testing my limbs. I had really painful and grazed knees, a sore head and back, bruises and my arm was badly battered and bruised. I was so surprised to be relatively ok.

My MIL best friend had something similar happen and is paralysed from the neck down. Appallingly people stopped going to see her because I imagine it's distressing. I'm glad you are OK @Tolkienista !! Stay safe.

This sounds like a really good alternative to living on one level.

Glad you’re ok. I had a friend who fell down the stairs and died and someone else who fell whilst carrying a glass and had head injuries and 40 stitches in their arms. I’m always reminding dc to walk slowly up and down the stairs and never be on their phone.

Gosh that must be very scary OP. It just highlights how common these accidents are and reminded me of a friends mother who fell down her set of stairs and broke her neck

OUCH!!! Not your COCCYX!!!

I was para-sailing - or whatever it’s called when you get pulled along behind a ski boat while you’re wearing a parachute.

We were being reckless and careless and using an old parachute that the guys hadn’t gone over first and tested - and long story short, two lines snapped and I fell 45 feet out of the sky and slammed into the water with all that rigging still pulling upwards.

And that broke my stupid coccyx - every time I sat down for MONTHS I got a reminder of my stupidity.

And then last March, I was walking back into my bedroom and got super dizzy - and landed on the floor, but I hit a bunch of stuff on the way down: my little dog’s stairs and a wooden chair.
It was the middle of the night and I kept trying to get up but I couldn’t.
I tried & tried & tried.
Then I remembered my phone was on my bed, so I yelled ”HEY SIRI CALL 911!!”
And she did.
And the heroic ambulance people came and saved me and I had a broken arm and a concussion and bruised ribs and now every time I’m watching tv and somebody says “Hey Siri…” my Siri wakes up and asks me to repeat whatever it was they just said.
But honestly - whomever invented Siri needs a medal - she saved my life last March. ❤️

Ah so glad for you OP!

I have always been clumsy ever since being a child and have many scars from falling over things, falling up things, falling into things etc

There is nothing as horrible as that feeling that lasts a millisecond where you know damn well you are falling but can't do a bloody thing about it. You just have to wait and see what happens - its so horrible!