38 | May• 2019
LEARNING TO NOT FALL
are now encouraging people of all
ages to learn how to fall to minimise
injury. They believe falling needs
to be viewed not so much as an
unexpected hazard to be avoided but
as an inevitability to be prepared for.
Training may even have been a
factor determining the outcome of
the Moreno brothers’ fall to earth.
One theory was that Alcides lived
because when the scaffolding gave
way, he lay f lat and clung to the
platform, as professional window
washers are taught to do. As the scaf-
folding fell into the narrow alley, air
resistance may have built up against
the platform, slowing it down. Decel-
eration is the key to surviving falls
and reducing injuries. As the joke
goes, “It’s not the fall that gets you;
it’s the sudden stop at the bottom.”
Alcides ultimately underwent
16 surgeries and was in a coma for
weeks. But after a long regime of
physical and occupational therapy
to strengthen his legs and restore his
balance, he can walk again. “I keep
asking myself why I lived,” Alcides
told the BBC. “I have a new baby – he
must be the reason, to raise this kid
and tell him my history.”
Given the tremendous cost of falls
to individuals and society and the
increasing knowledge of how and
why falls occur, it pays to learn how
to prevent them – and what you can
do to reduce harm in the split second
after you start to fall. Some of the
following tips are just common sense- and too easily brushed aside until
the oversight has caused an accident.
A few suggestions might require a bit
of training, or at least some practise.
They’re all worth thinking about, no
matter how steady you may feel on
your feet.
BE CAREFUL, EVEN IN THE
MOST ORDINARY PLACES
Watch where you are going. Don’t
walk while reading or using your
phone. Always hold handrails – most
people using staircases do not. Don’t
have your hands in your pockets, asIF YOU DO FALL, DON’T DO IT LIKE THISInstead, protect your head and twist to land on your ‘fleshy’ parts
PHOTO: DAVE IMMS