Fear of Falling

Anyone can have a fall. You are definitely not alone. Falling can be very frightening and may lead to a loss of confidence, restriction of activities, anxiety and worry.

The more worried you become, the less likely you are to keep active which, in turn, makes you more likely to fall again. You may find that you are more careful with your walking, start to slow down your pace or you begin to leave the house left often. These are very common behaviours and it may mean you’ve lost some of your confidence when getting around. It is important to remember that there are lots of things that you can do to reduce your risk of falling and improve your confidence. Working through the self-assessment tool on this website is a great start. 

Having a falls plan in place can help to reduce anxiety and will reduce the likelihood of being on the floor for a long time.

If you are hurt or unable to get up:

• Summon help by using your pendant alarm, calling out, crawling to a telephone or banging on a wall
• Make sure there are blankets in each room so that you can keep warm
• Move to a softer surface if you are able
• Change position regularly if you are able

If you are unhurt and feel you can get up:

• Roll over onto your hands and knees
• Crawl to a stable piece of furniture such as an armchair and use this to assist you with getting up
• Turn and sit on a chair or bed and rest for a while

If you are worried about falling when you are alone at home, you might want to get a pendant alarm to enable you to call for help even if you can’t reach the telephone.

There are also telecare sensors available such as falls detectors for people who would not be able to press a pendant alarm.

Remember

• If you have had a fall, try not to worry about it too much. There are plenty of things you can do to minimise your risk of it happening again
• If your worries are not going away, try talking to someone about it
• Set yourself small goals to build back up to your usual activities – e.g. walk for a short distance first
• Think about all the times you haven’t fallen and try to maintain your usual levels of activity

Complete a self-assessment and develop an action plan