Northern Metropolitan Instructs on How to Recover From a Fall

As most of us know, falling is one of the major dangers facing seniors, especially those who require 24-hour care and assistance. At the Northern Metropolitan Residential Healthcare Facility, our staff is constantly on the lookout for accidental falls and for the means by which falls can be prevented. However, it is always helpful for our residents, and for their peers who may still be living independently, to know how to get back to their feet on their own should they fall.

If an elderly patient finds themselves laying on the floor due to a fall, or for any other reason, the first adjustment they’ll want to be able to make is to gently roll themselves onto either side. Each of these steps assumes some level of physical capability on the part of the patient; an inability to perform any of these steps necessitates calling for help, which should remain a priority regardless. Once the patient has positioned themselves so that they are lying on one side, they should try to raise themselves to a sitting position, supporting themselves against the floor with one straightened arm. 

Crossing the other arm over the body to the same side as the supporting arm, the patient should attempt to rotate their torso in order to transition to an “all-fours” position. By either using a nearby piece of furniture or the wall, or by simply pushing backward with their hands and arms, the patient should try to sit back into an upright kneeling position. At this point the patient is at least upright, but they also have the option of pulling one foot or the other forward, placing it flat against the floor. and potentially raising themselves to a standing position.

To learn more about the Northern Metropolitan Residential Healthcare Facility and all of the services they offer, visit http://www.northernmet.com/.