There are 25 Parkinson's symptoms but only one scares me... losing my balance
Falling is scary. Sometimes it slowly happens, Other falls are a complete surprise. I always fall in slow motion. Everything slows down. Often I sense the awkwardness of the body falling followed by the collision and bewilderment. The fear and the quick damage assessment. My mind replays the fall for days or months.
In the past 5 years, I have had 3 really bad falls resulting in significant injuries, 15 falls with no injuries and 60 near falls.
My brain is always assessing the path of the least risk. I have been fall prone for about five years. Every bad fall is too many... but it could be much worse. I am fortunate to make thousands of good choices. The good news is that I have learned the hard way and made some changes which substantially reduced my falls.
While I am tempted to use a wheelchair, I know I will never walk again and my health will decline faster. My best option, is to keep moving, kore fall training anf make even better risk decisions.
My first bad fall was the result of a bad tendency when I froze to lean forward to initiate movement which resulted in an awful shoulder dislocation combined with long emergency room wait causing nerve damage and paralysis of my left arm and hand. The most painful injury. It's been a long road to regain function and I have a way to go, but I will get back to zero. This injury taught me not lean to initiate moving and to immediately rehab injuries to regain functioning no matter the effort and pain.
My second bad fall was result of rushing to the front door for a delivery resulting in surprisingly fast and an awkward fall resembling a tree falling. It's chipped my front teeth during the pandemic. The chipped teeth reminded me of crack addicts and l avoided leaving my house. I wore a helmet after this fall. I learned of the "how to fall classes" and attended one to reduce injuries.
My third bad fall was a real eye opener falling from the top of a 5 foot ladder backwards onto a hard concrete garage floor. The fall class I took after the second bad fall saved my life. I was totally surprised to find the ladder under me was tipping sideways on two legs.the other two legs were way off the ground. I hadn't sensed any movement until it was too late. Things slowed down. I recalled my "how to fall" teacher saying tuck your head pressing your chin into your chest and roll onto your side. Surprisingly my Parkinson's body responded and I tucked and rolled on my side, my left hip hit the hard concrete and instantly fractured. No head trauma. It was an excellent result fot falling backwards from five feet height on a hard concrete floor. No believed I hadn't hit my head.
I am very fortunate. It still haunts me to this day. I will never use a ladder again.
Parkinson's doesn't kill but parkinson's symptoms cause falling which does kill. While a wheelchair will greatly reduce falling, the human body is designed to move not sit. Muscles are essential for everything humans do: movement, eating, drinking, eye sight, talking, bathroom.,.everything. Inactivity is by far the #1 contributing factor to death . My good friend is a chaplain and he says 90% of people dying are wheelchair or bed bound.
Keep moving and be safe! .
