Inside Edition has tips on how to take a fall without getting badly hurt.
Kathie Lee Gifford announced she fractured her pelvis in two places after falling while recovering from hip replacement surgery, a pain she says was "unbelievable." Inside Edition has tips on how to take a fall without breaking anything.
The 70-year-old morning show legend said she fell in her home in Nashville.
"I just tripped. I was weak in that spot and the next thing you know, I am back in the hospital with a fractured pelvis," Gifford told People Magazine. "That's more painful than anything I went through with the hip. The pelvis is unbelievably painful."
Gifford recently told the TODAY show that her bones are brittle.
"When my doctors got done with me they just said, 'Your spine and your hips are down to the nubs," Gifford told TODAY.
Simple falls are the leading cause of injury and death in people over the age of 65 and account for nearly a million visits to the emergency room every year.
Falls can happen while out for a walk or trying to sit down.
At a Veterans Health Administration hospital in Tampa, Tommy McNeil teaches seniors how to fall without getting badly hurt.
His first lesson is to not break the fall with your hands, which can break an older person's bones. Instead, he recommends to drop and roll.
"As you're falling, you want to try to lower your center of gravity. You don't want to reach out and stop yourself with your hands and knees," McNeil says.
If you fall, take your time getting up. Make sure you are not dizzy and then crawl to a sturdy chair or other support that will not slip out from under you.
