Six Common Fractures That Can Occur Due To Slip And Fall Accidents

Falls are the most fatal accident to strike adults over 55. They are also the most common cause of accidents that result in broken bones and trips to the emergency room. Here are the six most common fractures that can occur due to slip and fall accidents.

Broken Arms

It is instinctive to try to catch yourself with your hands or throw up your arms to protect your face. In many cases, it results in sprained wrists and muscle strains. In more severe cases, it causes shoulder dislocations. In the worst cases, it results in one or more broken bones. This will either be a broken wrist bone or broken arm.

Broken Shoulder Bones

During a fall, it isn’t uncommon for the shoulder, hips and knees to take the brunt of the impact. Curling up your arms around your head to protect it often result in more force hitting the shoulders than the knees. In other cases, the person reaches out to catch themselves and fails to do so, so the shoulder takes the brunt of the trauma. This is why shoulder dislocations are common during slips and falls can also cause broken clavicles and collar bones.

Note that shoulder injuries often accompany neck injuries. These can range from muscle sprains to broken vertebrae, and this can result in anything from pain to paralysis. Every neck and shoulder injury is painful.

Hip Fractures

Falls are the number one cause of hip fracture. There are a few cases where someone has severe osteoporosis, such that the hip breaks and then they fall. However, the more common cause of the hip fracture is falling sideways and then handling on the weak hip. This can result in a hip fracture, a leg broken near the hip joint, or both. If someone has a hip fracture, around 95 percent of the time, it was caused by a fall.

Ankle Fractures

If you slipt and fell in the bath tub, there is a fair chance you broke your ankle in the process. That’s because slipping in the tub tends to result in twisting of the ankle or falling with the ankle and foot hitting the tub.

Broken Bones in the Skull

Falls are the most common cause of brain injuries. They can cause a cracked skull or cracked orbital bone, depending on how you fall. These cases are often fatal. Even if you don’t break a bone in your face, traumatic brain injuries can be debilitating or even fatal.

A Broken Back

Slips and falls can cause serious back injuries. The damage can be anything from a slipped disc to fractured vertebrae. Always seek medical attention for any back pain after a fall, because herniated disks can result in limited mobility if untreated while fractured vertebrae can cause paralysis if unaddressed. You cannot ignore potential injury to the spinal cord.

How common are severe back injuries from slips and falls? According to the Mayo Clinic, more than a quarter of all spinal cord injuries are due to slips and falls. For those over 65, it accounts for the majority of such injuries.