Why I Practice Falling On Purpose
I'm building safer reflexes!
Have you fallen in the last six months? asked my doctor at my routine checkup.
Yes, I fall every day! I was tempted to say.
I fall on purpose to practice my fall resilience reflexes, often excitedly demonstrating to people I’m talking to and alarming bystanders until I bounce back up unharmed.
note, no worries, to benefit from these skills you do NOT have to practice falling all the way onto the floor like I do! Below we will work on step-outs, sinking into a chair and other gentle ways to significantly boost our fall preparedness and resilience!
We hear a lot about fall prevention, and of course it’s great to work on balance and leg strength, and check our home hazards and footwear.
But my cutting-edge colleagues and I see room for improvement in our society’s current fall prevention efforts:
There’s a stereotype that fall prevention is for “old” people, so many only turn to it in their 80s or when they’ve already had a bad fall. In truth, we fall at every age, and some factors of balance already decline in our 30s and 40s, so we should be working on this all along.
Fall prevention programs tend to emphasize risks, bringing up fear. But fear of falling is a risk factor for falling. It makes us more likely to stiffen up and panic when we feel ourselves losing our balance. (I’m afraid of heights, and I know that I’d be more likely to fall from a high platform than someone who isn’t afraid!) Fear of falling can also lead us to become less active and thus decline in strength, agility, balance, etc.
And the fact is, we all DO fall sometimes. It just isn’t possible to prevent all falls. So let’s include some training on how to stumble and catch ourselves by stepping out without panicking, and how to tuck and roll more safely when we do fall, instead of putting out stiff arms or hitting our heads.
People with experience in martial arts, parachute jumping, parkour and many other sports tend to fall more safely because their reflexes kick in. I’m not in any of those categories, but we can all develop some of these reflexes too!
I’ve been excited to bring this training to my clients and class/workshop participants, and we’re having great success. I love all the reports I’m getting of stumbles that didn’t turn into falls, and real-life falls that didn’t result in serious injuries!
If you’d rather watch than read (or both), here is a video of me presenting this as a Zoom workshop (43 minutes).
Four Ways to Build Fall Resilience Reflexes
At the beginning of a workshop someone always says, But when I’m falling there’s no time to make a plan!
Quite right. These are not “principles to remember” in the middle of a fall.
They are reflexes that we need to build with practice, so they will kick in automatically when needed.
The good news is that it’s easy to practice in daily life, and it feels empowering and benefits our bodies in other ways too.
Let’s do it!
The “Dick van Dyke” Stumble Strategy
Dick van Dyke not only stumbled, but actually rolled over the ottoman (quite safely) at the beginning of his TV show.
Inspired by his agility and resilience, I use his theme song to practice our crucial skill of stumbling but catching ourselves with a step and NOT falling.
We want to be able to do this, naturally and easily, in all directions.
To learn this yourself, first tune in to your body and your balance:
Stand comfortably and gently sway in all directions, feeling how your ankles and your hips move to keep you upright. Get used to the feeling of shifting your balance and seeing how your body naturally handles it. Notice that it’s a lot easier if you’re loose and not stiff. This is something we can play with anytime, for instance while standing in line.
In a space where you have some room to safely move, now imagine you’re standing in the middle of a big clock on the floor, with 12 in front of you and 6 behind. Step out gently to all of the clock directions, including the ones behind you. We never know which way we might stumble. Again this is easy to practice anytime.
When your body has gotten used to stepping out in all directions, turn it into an intentional stumble. I call it “falling around the clock.” Shift your weight far enough so you need to take a step. You can gradually work your way up to stronger stumbles and bigger steps.
My participants regularly come back to me quite excited, saying I stumbled but I Dick van Dyke’d!
Here’s a video of me doing the exercise in less than one minute. I’ve got my back to you so you can practice it along with me. Repeating this for less than a minute a day can make a significant difference in our balance, agility and fall preparedness!
Of course we are intentionally stumbling here. It’s also great to practice a “surprise stumble” with a partner. Find someone who is willing and able to catch you if needed, and have them push against you with both hands (on your upper chest, your back, or the side of your shoulder) while you lean into them. Tell them to let go of the pressure without warning, so you have to stumble and take a step out toward them (backwards is scary! make sure they’re ready to catch you if needed!). This can be really empowering and confidence-building, when you realize that your body really does know how to step out and catch you.
Crumpling Down (onto a chair, sofa or bed)
If you were holding a baby or a little dog, and you suddenly started to fall, what would you instinctively do? You’d likely curl around the precious burden, slow yourself down by by bending your legs, and roll sideways when you hit the ground to help absorb the force.
These are safer reflexes for our own bodies too, compared to the common pattern of stiffening up, falling like a log, and/or flinging out straight arms.
Practicing this is simple, empowering and even fun (I think!).
Grab an object like a cushion, stuffed animal or yoga block, and cradle it in your arms. Now pretend that you are suddenly going to fall into a seated position (onto a chair, sofa or bed).
Practice protecting the object by tucking around it, bending your hips and knees so your muscles slow your fall, and rolling gently onto the side of your hip on the surface, rather than heavily “plopping” down.
I call this crumple, tuck and roll, and again, these are not ideas to remember, but reflexes to build with practice, maybe once a day when you’re going to sit down. For later practice you can skip the object and just crumple, tuck and roll gently.
This simple skill may feel unnatural at first, but practicing regularly can possibly save us from head injuries and broken bones!
Let’s fall like a chain, not a stick! A vertical stick is stiff and hits down hard when it falls. A chain gently crumples. We can do that too, by bending and getting loose, with a feeling more of surrender rather than panicked resistance to gravity. It’s a bit like driving on ice — the best strategy when we are skidding is to gently go with it rather than jerking the wheel in panic.
How Do You Roll?
As you get better at falling into a seated position, you might try rolling all the way down onto your bed, or lengthwise onto a sofa if your bed is too high for this. Practice tucking your head and your “Tyrannosaurus arms” so your elbows and especially your head don’t strike down hard.
Where on your unique body can you roll on “meaty parts” and reduce your risk of injury?
You’ll likely notice that you have a preferred side to roll onto with your falls; mine is my left side. That is good to notice and practice, because if we’re falling forward or backward in real life, we can roll onto that side. Try facing your bed standing up, bending your legs to slow down your fall, and rolling onto your preferred side. Try it backward when you feel ready!
In all of this, it’s important to listen to our bodies, go at our own pace, and respect our limitations and fears (we all have them!). We need to keep ourselves safe in this practice, for instance not aggravating any orthopedic issues or hitting down hard if we have osteoporosis. And the idea is to create more ease and confidence, not to tense up and scare our bodies.
Doing a pretend fall onto a chair, bed or sofa, maybe once a day, doesn’t take much time, and you’ll build reflexes that are quite likely to kick in if/when you fall onto the ground.
Decelerating with the leg muscles as we sink into a chair, tucking the head, and stepping out in different directions are the most important skills, so don’t worry about the rest if they don’t feel right for you! But if you want to go farther:
Next Levels
If you have access to a thick gymnastics mat, mattress on the floor, or similar, that can be a great transition to practice falling from crouching, kneeling and then standing.
As you now can predict, I coach my participants to:
get loose rather than stiff
decelerate by bending at the knees and hips
tuck the head and arms
if falling forward or backward, roll onto their preferred side
then keep rolling, tucking the head away from the ground.
While practicing, they notice if their hips or elbows hit down hard, and if their head touches the mat, so they can find a more effective pattern for their unique bodies.
Some participants progress to the floor or yoga mat (like me), and some don’t, and that is fine!
Martial artists have other ways of teaching safer falls, so you can learn more advanced skills from them. I hope to do that someday myself! Or maybe you can find a “how to fall more safely” class in your community. They are starting to pop up in various places, hooray!
Again, here is the full video class of me teaching “how to fall more safely” (43 minutes) if you’d like to see all this in action (get out a chair and practice with me!).
Here’s one lovely reaction to this online class:
I always wondered when people said, oh you got to roll when you fall, and I was thinking, how?! But I think you’ve done such a great job of demonstrating being loose, being a Lucy Goosey, and I found it super helpful. - S.M.
And here’s a great webinar by a colleague, Cheryl Whitelaw of Kind Power in Canada; I’ve learned so much from her! She also offers virtual balance and “Friendly Floor” classes here.
These fall preparedness or fall resilience skills are cutting-edge and SO important. Let’s practice them and share with others! I’d love to hear how it goes for you!
And if you’d like to connect with me further:
Reach out by email with any questions, feedback or if you might be interested in trying a virtual coaching session or class, let’s do it!
Check out my events calendar here to join me for virtual or in-person events. Hope to see you soon!
Great article Patricia. I am now waiting for my doctor to ask me about how often I fall! Too fun anticipating that conversation. And thanks for the shout out - keep on promoting safe falling!
🤗🤗Thank you Cheryl!!