falling Archives - The MS Wire

Falling with MS: It’s not if, but when

Posted on May 6, 2024April 30, 2024

Have you fallen recently? I’ll bet you have A web-based survey of 965 adults with multiple sclerosis, published in the March 2024 issue of the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, reports 56% said they had fallen in the previous 6 months. Sixty-eight percent of those falls were in their home. A third of the people were hurt. I’m surprised the numbers aren’t higher. Those falls were the result…Continue Reading

I Took a Tumble That Could Have Been Worse

Posted on March 8, 2021March 5, 2021

Ooooops!” Actually, I spit out a shorter, one-syllable word as I took a stupid, scary tumble…one of the worst I’ve had in 40 years of living with MS. But this is a family column. My last scary tumble, a few years ago, happened from a sitting position, and I fell onto the carpet. This one happened while I was standing, and I tumbled onto the concrete floor of the parking…Continue Reading

Do We Need a Nurse to Teach Us How Not to Fall?

Posted on July 21, 2020July 20, 2020

I’d just gotten out of bed the other morning and was headed to the bathroom using just one cane when I tried to step over a dog toy on the floor. I went down slowly onto the carpet, so it was really no big deal. No harm, no foul, but I should have been using two canes, and I should have been more careful. I should know how not to…Continue Reading

A Bad Fall, Humpty Dumpty Style

Posted on May 29, 2019May 28, 2019

I’ve met Humpty Dumpty, and he is me. I made that discovery the other night when I had a bad fall. It wasn’t off a wall; it was just off a chair, but it felt like I’d tumbled off Humpty’s high ledge. It shouldn’t have happened. I’ve lived with MS for nearly 40 years and I’ve had my share of trips, stumbles, and falls. I’ve even written a post about…Continue Reading

What I’ve Learned About Falling After 37 Years With MS

Posted on August 13, 2018August 13, 2018

Leaving a restaurant the other evening, I was stepping off an unusually high curb. Right cane down, left cane down, swing the right leg, swing the left leg, and … uh-oh. Down I go. I’d been asking for it. I’d needed to change the electrodes on the Bioness L300 that I use to assist my MS left foot drop and the unit wasn’t working well. My left toe snagged and…Continue Reading

MS and falling the best way

Posted on February 14, 2017

[This item first appeared as my column on www.multiplesclerosisnewstoday.com] Uh oh! My cat, T.J., is under my feet trying to nibble my ankles as I stumble toward the bathroom in the middle of the night. I know what’s about to happen. As I try not to step on T.J.’S tail, it’s already started. I’m going down. It all happens in about three seconds, and how I handle those three seconds…Continue Reading

"People newly diagnosed with MS will truly benefit from this book, while those of us who’ve lived with MS for a while will wish we’d had it ourselves!…Neurologists should consider keeping a copy of this book in their waiting room because their patients are going to need it." - Tamara K. Sellman, reviewing for Multiple Sclerosis.net.

The Multiple Sclerosis Toolbox is designed for MS "newbies" but it's great info for everyone. I combine more than 40 years of living with MS with some easy to understand info about diagnosis, treatments, visiting the neuro, relationships, mobility aids, travel and more…a lot of what you get in this blog. A paperback and an e-book are available on Amazon.